They Satisfy 1936

Editor: This photograph, titled "They Satisfy" by Nathan Lerner, was taken in 1936 and printed as a gelatin-silver print. The composition, with the fragmented advertisement on the left, really draws me in. I find the subjects distant yet evocative, making me wonder about their stories, the way they inhabit the margins. What resonates with you when you look at it? Curator: What a question, and what a photograph. To me, this is about the beauty of quiet desperation. Lerner captured a scene that’s so very urban and of its time, a slice of Depression-era life, and made something quietly resonant. The placement of the advertisement feels deliberately ironic given the context of hardship—"They Satisfy" hanging over figures that look far from it. Does it suggest society trying to offer a panacea, an aesthetic anesthesia in a grim period? I love that tension. What do you make of that, though? Is the advertisement more than meets the eye, or an easy shot at social critique? Editor: That irony hadn’t struck me so powerfully. It definitely changes my understanding! The way the figures are slightly blurred also adds to that sense of detachment, as if the satisfaction on offer is perpetually out of reach. And yes, you are absolutely correct that is it an anesthetic. Curator: Exactly! There's something powerful about those moments when art captures not just an image, but the undercurrents of an era. I'd love to just sit right here to allow myself to contemplate all of that for a few more minutes. Thank you for your insight. Editor: And thank you for providing further clarity to this beautiful and suggestive photograph.