Onlookers and bystanders

Marvelous piece on the NYT editorial page this morning about those Lincoln Gettysburg photographs. Verlyn Klinkenborg is captivated by the stereoviews but ultimately more interested in the scene around Lincoln than in Lincoln himself, curious about the "men--including one in a broad white collar and a voluminous top hat -- [who] stare at the lens with a truly American candidness." Again, here's the image...

Klinkenborg's point (and do go and read the piece) is that while photography directs us to the center, it's often the periphery that's the most interesting. With the "discovery" of Lincoln in there somewhere, the photo will now forever be "about" Lincoln. But it's also about the temporality of the historical event, of the photographic moment. That bystander was at Gettysburg too; what about him?

For some reason, I'm tempted to make this visual analogy:

Comments

[Jennifer]

MTM has SUCH a cute coat on! (is that the center or the periphery?)

[caraf]

Yes, you do go for the retro, don't you? I for one prefer the blue headscarf look. That Minneapolis winter can be really hard on the beehive hairdo; a lady has to protect herself.

Honestly, please tell me *someone* has found this bescarfed lady and done a story on her. I need to know more.

[ncf]

Indeed they have found her! Some years ago the Minneapolis newspaper identified and interviewed her. To commemorate the event a statue of MTM tossing her tam on the Nicollet Mall now stands on the Nicollet Mall!

[caraf]

Hey, maybe I can visit the statue when I'm home and "re-enact" the image by standing behind the statue in a beehive hairdo and scowling...