"A Showery Reception for Mr. Willkie in St. Louis"
Times Wide World Photos
United States, active 1919–1941
October 18, 1940
A gelatin silver print that captures a 1940 St. Louis campaign parade, made to record the public spectacle and excitement surrounding an electoral candidate.
A rush of white flakes—confetti or snow—fills the frame, slicing across the dark silhouettes of buildings and making the standing figure in the open car and the cheering crowd feel simultaneously revealed and obscured.
As a piece of mid-20th-century press photography, it shows how photographers shaped the visual language of mass politics, turning fleeting moments of public display into enduring images that defined modern electoral life.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 3/4 × 8 5/8" (17.1 × 21.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2189.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
