Zoomology of the Lower East Side, NYC, 1900

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2038   

Part of a Paper Micrscope series, Zoomology

Michael Beschloss posted this remarkable photograph of the Lower East Side on Mulberry Street, a rare color photo made around 1900.  There is a lot of life going on here--people posing for the photographer (standing on an elevated platform with a large view camera, no telling who or what he was imaging), people caught in their daily lives, people. Under the Paper Microscope the image reveals all sorts of sub-images, photos-within-photos, making it a fascinating exercise in exploration.

For example, the two men hiked-up on the back of a moving wagon on the bottom-right seem to be enjoying themselves in expectation, the man on the left about to toss something underhanded, the guy on the right in a bow tie getting ready with a smile to enjoy what was going to happen.  To their right:  a man with a sales platform draped from his neck, watching a girl rush by, his pocket stuffed with paper. 

And the full mage:

And in the bottom left segment the scene is semi-dominated by the two men standing behind a barrel, one with hands on hips, the other with a jauntily-cocked bowler with his hands in his pockets with one pinky out.  The men in the background are seated very closely together, maybe enjoying a coffee, with one prominent man with a long tie and shining shoes who I guess would be the Principle Player, with a woman with a baby standing behind him.  There are about 25 people in this part of the very crowded photo. 

And the central-bottom, where there is so much humanity going on that it is almost too much to comment on:

I particularly like the man-boy with the beer (?) in the middle of the segment, and of course the Don-like figure in the rear with the over-the-shoulder cloth and his audience of children.  There's even a Vermeer-y redheaded girl at left. 

In all of the action, in the middle of the street in the middle of the scene, a man has stopped to look at the photographer.  He's the Man in the Middle:

Comments

[Lynnwalsh.wordpress.com]

This photograph is fabulous John. Thanks for sharing it. I love that this many people posed for the shot, and wondering how the photography managed to orchestrate that.
Cheers - Lynn Walsh

[Jeff Donlan]

Amazing photo. I wonder if it isn't a "colored" photo vs. color photo. The far distance looks monochromatic. If it IS a re-touched photo, it's a marvelous job.

[John F. Ptak]

Thanks Jeff. I really should have written about the color aspect of the photograph. It is entirely possible that this is a color photograph and not simply a hand-colored photo, but I can't say for sure, and the history of color photography is long and deep and tough. But color photos existed 40 years before this, and had become less-rare by 1900...so it is quite possible that this is a bona fide color photo.
See this very nice summation and timeline of color photography: http://www.luminous-lint.com/IaW/public/5/1/2/1/0/20/T/