Allentown Museum, Pennsylvania 1978

Larry Fink made this gelatin silver print sometime in the twentieth century at the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania. The shot gives the feeling of being a fly on the wall, it’s so candid. The figures are all dressed up, caught in the moment, with a Baroque painting looming in the background. There’s something really interesting in the way Fink juxtaposes the upper class with the dramatic, contrasty, almost intrusive, flash photography. You know, it kind of reminds me of Diane Arbus’s work. I imagine Fink, prowling through the museum, camera in hand. I wonder what he was thinking as he looked through the viewfinder, framing the scene. It looks like he's working with a limited range of tones, from deep blacks to bright whites, which gives it a stark, graphic quality. I can almost hear the click of the shutter, freezing the scene in time. It makes you wonder about all those other photographers out there, snapping away, adding their own little piece to the ongoing story of art.