Firehouse 52: Spuyten Duyvil, Riverdale Avenue at 245th Street, Bronx 1937

Berenice Abbott made this gelatin silver print of Firehouse 52 in the Bronx at some point in the mid-20th century. There's a real stillness to the scene, isn't there? It makes you think about the quiet moments in a life dedicated to responding to emergencies. What really grabs me is how Abbott plays with light and shadow. The way the light falls on the building's facade, bringing out the texture of the wooden shingles, it's almost sculptural. And look at the shadows in the windows of the tower, like dark voids. Your eye is drawn to those blank squares, like in a Agnes Martin grid, but more sinister somehow! It reminds me of other photographers like Eugène Atget, who documented the streets of Paris with such care and precision. Both artists were interested in capturing the everyday, but there's also something deeply melancholic about their work, don't you think? It’s like they’re preserving a moment in time that's already slipping away.