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| Edward Steichen, The Flatiron, New York, 1904 |
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| Alfred Stieglitz, The Flatiron, 1902-1903 |
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| Alvin Langdon Coburn, The Flatiron Building, 1911 |
In Edward Steichen's photograph of Flatiron Building the camera
position is just below the eye level, showing the view of the streets
where there is a horse carriage with a visible figure in foreground
leaving the building in the back centre of the photograph and cutting
its top off. In the middle of the photograph as well as from the sides
of the photograph are placed branches of trees.
In Alfred Stieglitz photograph the camera position is just below the eye level; the foreground of the photograph shows the view of a park leaving the building far back in the left side of the photograph. The upper side of the photograph is framed by branches of trees.
Alvin Langdon Coburn's photograph is taken almost as the same place and position as Steichen's. In Coburn's photograph the position of the camera is more on the right side, a bit further away from the building and slightly tilted up, therefore the top of the building has not been cut off and the view of the streets is different; the people are coming in to the photograph whereas in Steinchen's photograph the people are going away from the photograph while still in the photograph. There is a large size street light in the middle of the photograph, that is almost as same height as the other skyscraper in the photograph in the background. The upper left side of the photograph is framed by branches of trees.
The photographs of Flatiron Building by Steichen, Stieglitz and Coburn were all taken before the WWI, when the new America was in the making. The new cities all around the world were celebrated by the industrial revolution where the first iconic landmarks and skyscrapers of cities were made in 19th and 20th century (Eiffel tower, 1889, Flatiron Building 1902, etc.). Pictorialistic approach to photography emerged by commenting the earlier technical take on photography by Steichen and Stieglitz, who both pushed the photography to the field of fine art with the first photography only magazine Camera Work and 20th century photography movement Photo-Secession, which created art gallery 291 where photography was shown with fine art pieces by such as Picasso and Cézanne.
In Steichen's photograph one can see how the photograph's emotional landscape and feel is made by the weather conditions, the rain and the soft light makes the photograph to be viewed as melancholic and sad. The branches abstract the photograph and its soft focus makes the photograph mysterious. These same elements as well as the lonely small figures can be seen in Stieglitz's and Coburn's photographs as well; they all show the building as if it is the background of the photograph, something that is about to come but has not had its effect on people yet - the trees and the people are still in the foreground in focus of the photograph, and the notion of nature and human is still within in the industrial landmark, the city.
Even though all the photographs are talking the same visual language there are great differences between each photograph; Steichen's photograph has a nostalgic feel with its glimmering sidewalk and the going away figure, whereas in Stieglitz's photograph the atmosphere is in the loneliness of the figure in the vast park where the building rises almost as from nothingness to the sky, side by side the slim tree tunk. Coburn's photograph is the darkest and pulsating of the three; there are more people in the photograph, and the corners are in shadow; the city does not look as inviting and mystical, but crowded and busy.
In Alfred Stieglitz photograph the camera position is just below the eye level; the foreground of the photograph shows the view of a park leaving the building far back in the left side of the photograph. The upper side of the photograph is framed by branches of trees.
Alvin Langdon Coburn's photograph is taken almost as the same place and position as Steichen's. In Coburn's photograph the position of the camera is more on the right side, a bit further away from the building and slightly tilted up, therefore the top of the building has not been cut off and the view of the streets is different; the people are coming in to the photograph whereas in Steinchen's photograph the people are going away from the photograph while still in the photograph. There is a large size street light in the middle of the photograph, that is almost as same height as the other skyscraper in the photograph in the background. The upper left side of the photograph is framed by branches of trees.
The photographs of Flatiron Building by Steichen, Stieglitz and Coburn were all taken before the WWI, when the new America was in the making. The new cities all around the world were celebrated by the industrial revolution where the first iconic landmarks and skyscrapers of cities were made in 19th and 20th century (Eiffel tower, 1889, Flatiron Building 1902, etc.). Pictorialistic approach to photography emerged by commenting the earlier technical take on photography by Steichen and Stieglitz, who both pushed the photography to the field of fine art with the first photography only magazine Camera Work and 20th century photography movement Photo-Secession, which created art gallery 291 where photography was shown with fine art pieces by such as Picasso and Cézanne.
In Steichen's photograph one can see how the photograph's emotional landscape and feel is made by the weather conditions, the rain and the soft light makes the photograph to be viewed as melancholic and sad. The branches abstract the photograph and its soft focus makes the photograph mysterious. These same elements as well as the lonely small figures can be seen in Stieglitz's and Coburn's photographs as well; they all show the building as if it is the background of the photograph, something that is about to come but has not had its effect on people yet - the trees and the people are still in the foreground in focus of the photograph, and the notion of nature and human is still within in the industrial landmark, the city.
Even though all the photographs are talking the same visual language there are great differences between each photograph; Steichen's photograph has a nostalgic feel with its glimmering sidewalk and the going away figure, whereas in Stieglitz's photograph the atmosphere is in the loneliness of the figure in the vast park where the building rises almost as from nothingness to the sky, side by side the slim tree tunk. Coburn's photograph is the darkest and pulsating of the three; there are more people in the photograph, and the corners are in shadow; the city does not look as inviting and mystical, but crowded and busy.
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| Walker Evans, Flatiron Building seen from the below, New York City, 1928 |
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| Walter Gropius, The Flatiron Building, New York, 1928 |
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| Berenice Abbott, The Flatiron Building, 1938 |
In Walter Gropius photograph the building is positioned centre across the photograph, almost as an arrow pointing to the west, without any people or other buildings in the photograph. One can see the top of couple of buildings, but the framing is strictly concerned in the building and its architectural aspects; the detail of the stones, bricks and windows are in focus. Because the camera position is tilted, the building looks like it's going to fall, which disturbs the viewer.
In Walker Evans photograph the camera position is close by the building in the ground level looking up to the building. Before the building is positioned a lamp, a part of bridge and a corner of an another building. These elements emphasize the architectural composition; there are no figures nor signs of nature in the photograph, just the notion of the city, its lines and compositions structuring it. The building itself becomes almost as unrecognizable because of the camera position doesn't show its famous skyline, and the other elements in the photograph are only to distract the viewer from the iconic building. The building does not look like the Flatiron Building but like an another skyscraper of the city.
In Berenice Abbott photograph the camera position is slightly above the street level, cropping the building's lower level and the people from the streets out of the photograph. The placement of the building in the photograph is similar to Steinchen's and Coburn's; one can see the same buildings in the background of all the photographs, but in the Abbott's photograph the Flatiron building is in focus, whereas both in Steinchen's and Coburn's it isn't. There is not the same emotional landscape nor pictorional approach to Abbott's photograph; its only connection to people is on an add that is placed next to the Flatiron building. The lighting in the photograph is neutral and there are no colour alterations in the print, whereas in Steinchen's, Coburn's and even in Stieglitz's photographs the colour of the photographs is added with lumiere and gum bichromate processes to add sentimental emotion to the photograph.
The photographs by Gropius, Evans and Abbott were all taken after the WWI, where the humanity shifted its position and how people started to view the world in general. The cities were looked at not as glamorous and celebratial anymore; the effect of the war and the Great Depression was seen in the people of the cities. This distance between human connection to the city as nothing but an architectural doctumentation of a building can be seen in these three photographs, where the approach is almost scientific in comparison to the three other photographs taken before the WWI. These photographs are almost graphic drawings of the building whereas the other three are closer to a painting-like approaches. This all can be explained by the photographers' backgrounds: Gropius was not a serious photographer but a notorius architecht and the founder of the Bauhaus school; Evans' photograph of the building was taken at the early years of his career, since then his approach changed into photographing the effects of the Great Depression in the people of America; Abbott's photograph of the building is only one piece of a larger series Changing New York, where she is investigating people in the city, where they work, live and play in the city.
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