Listening to Some Speeches
Lechner/The New York Times
Nationality unknown
January 16, 1950
A gelatin-silver photograph that captures a packed public gathering listening to speeches, with flag bearers and intent faces placed prominently in the foreground.
What strikes you is the dense, receding crowd and the strong diagonal of dark flags framing a handful of young listeners whose concentrated, varied expressions give the moment a tense, collective urgency.
As an example of postwar photojournalism, it turns an everyday civic ritual into a powerful image about mass attention and collective identity, showing how photography shapes public memory of political life.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 9/16 × 9 1/2" (16.7 × 24.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2036.2001
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
