"A Mexican Artist Records his First Impressions of San Francisco"
Times Wide World Photos
United States, active 1919–1941
1930
A gelatin-silver press photograph that captures a Mexican artist in San Francisco making notes while a young woman in traditional dress leans close, recorded by a newspaper photographer to document a moment of cultural encounter.
What first strikes you is the cinematic stillness—the broad-brimmed man intently writing, the woman's poised profile and beaded necklace, and the hard sunlight that sculpts faces and fabrics into sharp, tactile contrasts.
As 1930s visual journalism, this image illustrates how newspaper photography shaped American views of cultural exchange and artists abroad, employing the gelatin-silver look that became central to modern photo-reportage.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
7 9/16 × 9 3/8" (19.2 × 23.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2148.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
