DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Skyscraper Lunch: The Secrets of a Cult Photo

2022-10-27 20:07:00Histori SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Skyscraper Lunch: The Secrets of a Cult Photo
Lunch on the skyscraper

This famous photo is real and over 80 years old, some curiosities worth knowing

11 workers eating a lunch sitting on a beam 250 meters high. It was 1932 when this photo (now a "cult") was printed on the pages of the Sunday supplement of the New York Herald Tribune, becoming the iconic image of an era (the Great Depression) and of New York City, but also of the extraordinary prowess of these men, while none of them show any sign of fear.

Skyscraper Lunch: The Secrets of a Cult Photo

Like many iconic images, "Lunch atop a skyscraper" has a story that deserves to be told.

1- WE DON'T KNOW THE AUTHOR. Until the 1950s it was not uncommon for a photographer not to see their own name in the picture. Even today, historians are not sure whether the photo was taken by Charles C. Ebbets (the most credited) or other photographers present that day such as William Leftwich and Thomas Kelley.

2- WE KNOW WHERE IT WAS SHOT. For a long time it was thought that it was shot over the Empire State Building, but this is not the case. The photo was taken during the construction of Rockefeller Center in New York.

3- IT IS A POSITIVE IMAGE. In the midst of the Great Depression that brought the US to its knees, where a record figure (for the time) of 15 million unemployed, showing America and a New York in full expansion produced some optimism: "The country is recovering himself", he said.

4- IT'S NOT JUST A PHOTO. From that lunch on top of the skyscraper there were many photos from different perspectives. There is even one where 4 female workers are seen using the beam for their daily break. In the air again.

5- ACKNOWLEDGMENT 2… Filmmaker Seán Ó Cualáin tried to reconstruct the history of this photo for the documentary Men at Lunch (2012), but only found the names of two workers: Joseph Eckner (third left) and Joe Curtis (third right). The names of the others are unknown and will probably remain so. The construction of Rockefeller Center gave work to about 40,000 people.

6- NEWS? NO, ADVERTISING. The photo had above all a propaganda function. It was known to the world for the impressive construction of Rockefeller Center, still today one of the symbolic places of New York. For this reason, various photographers were present, in an organized "event". But the workers are real, so is the height. The steel beam that serves as a bench is on the 69th floor, although a few years ago the New York Times theorized that perhaps there was a newly constructed floor on the beam that was not visible in the photo.

Skyscraper Lunch: The Secrets of a Cult Photo

True? Only those who were present that day can say…

Galeria fotografike (
)


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×