Optometrist 1935 - 1936

Eliot Elisofon made this photograph, Optometrist, with silver gelatin. The street scene shows the city how it appeared through Elisofon’s eyes. I imagine him observing how shapes, lines, and tonal variations interact, thinking about creating depth, contrast, and texture with his camera. Look at the angle and perspective he chose, the composition and light. The giant glasses hanging outside the optometrist are great. I like how they are repeated up the street in a smaller version, creating a feeling of depth and perspective in the image. The softness and grain of the photographic paper give the buildings and street a tactile quality. There’s a tension between the flat surface of the paper and the illusion of depth, a hallmark of modern art. Elisofon’s photograph invites us to consider the relationship between seeing and knowing, between surface and depth. It captures a specific moment in time and place. Elisofon is talking to other image makers, an ongoing conversation between artists, each inspiring the other to see the world anew.