One Talking Picture

1929, printed 1949

Ralph Steiner

(American, 1899–1986)

Culture

America

Medium

gelatin silver contact print

Measurements

Paper: 17.8 x 22.9 cm (7 x 9 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Therese and Murray Weiss 2012.76

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

Posters for events with limited runs like the circus, slapped up on the sides of buildings, provided a constantly refreshed display of images on city walls and a compelling subject for Ralph Steiner and his friend and pupil Walker Evans. Steiner contrasts the excitement of the silver screen with a grim aspect of urban life: trash. He shows us posters, torn from walls at the end of the show’s run, left on the ground below; passersby have added objects to the heap. Evans, too, emphasizes the poster’s ephemerality. He reveals its torn edge and has selected a camera angle and a moment when the lighting accentuates the thinness of the cloth or paper.