Victor Carlstrom's Record Breaking Flight
Underwood and Underwood
American, active 1880–1934
November 3, 1916
A gelatin silver photograph that documents an early aviator’s record-breaking flight, made to capture the drama of modern flight and the public spectacle it provoked.
The eye is pulled to a tiny lattice-framed biplane suspended in a vast, brooding sky above a low horizon where a cluster of silhouetted onlookers stands on a riverbank, one man waving a flag.
The photograph links the infancy of aviation with mass spectatorship and illustrates how early photography circulated images of technological daring and national modernity to the public.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
7 1/4 × 9 7/16" (18.4 × 24 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2202.2001
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
