This is such a fascinating photography in my opinion. It is the lead photographic image in the recent New York Times " How Ralph Ellison's World Became Visible" published article.
"Before he became a writer, Ralph Ellison was an emerging photographer. Rarely-seen documentary images, gather in a forthcoming book, reveal his lifelong engagement with the camera.
Ralph Ellison: Photographer" https://steidl.de/Books/Photographer-0319354858.html, a collaboration of the Gordon Parks Foundation and by the reviewer Arthur Lubow, is to equate the writing of the Invisible Man to possible parallels of photographs taken by Ellison when he dabble in photography & writing. And finally with writing emerging has his overall strength.
The photograph "Untitled"( New York City), a photograph of men on a Harlem street corner in the 1940s by Ralph Ellison.
Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellison were good friends, Parks, who was far more experienced, acted as Ellison's photography entire, just as Ellison guided him in writing.
The composition of the image is layered with distinction. The angular tonal background of highlight windows gives spacial relief that is mirrored in tone with the foreground of men cluster in random harmony with their individual fedora hats reminiscent of the 1940s. More articulating is the visual tension expressed in the facial expressions of 2 the opposing central figures, one black the other white. What could have been said to cause a sneered reaction of how dare you gesture don't take me lightly.....with the opposing profiles of the left figure with his dangling cigar as compared to the 2 background men who lend an air of backup support. That the black & white renders the image timeless articulation the image has a air of Don't take my words for granted as underlined by leaning in of one figure as the other figure absorbs the words spoken with caution recoils ever so slightly. This is an amazing image with multiple questions unanswered.
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