Untitled (Collaborators, St. Tropez, France) after 1944

Constance Stuart Larrabee made this photograph, "Untitled (Collaborators, St. Tropez, France)," using gelatin silver. The shades of grey go from very light to very dark, almost black. It is hard to know what is going on. It looks like a tender, yet also tragic, moment. A woman is nuzzling a man, perhaps a son, who is covering his face and crying. What I notice, looking closer, is the texture of the photograph: how the light creates different effects on skin, on cloth, and in the distance. The details of the woman's dress stand out, while the background is a little fuzzy. The man's bald head is the lightest part of the picture, reflecting the most light. Larrabee's photograph reminds me a little of Dorothea Lange's portraits from the Depression era. Both photographers capture intimate moments of ordinary people, revealing the humanity within difficult situations. Ultimately, art is about seeing what's in front of you and imagining all that it could mean.