Assignment 4: A picture is worth a thousand words

The brief for this assignment was to write a 1000 word essay on a chosen image which could be anything from famous art photography to a family snapshot. I had a few images in mind; Eggleston’s woman on a swing had always been a favourite, McCurry’s Afghan girl drew me in with her intense green eyes and I was rather drawn to an old photograph of my mother holding a child’s potty on a caravan site in the late sixties. All of these images initially struck me because of their use of colour. It is often one of the first things that I am drawn to, so I was quite surprised that my final choice turned out to be a black & white image.  

As I flicked through Magnum’s ‘A Year in Photography’, an image from Bruce Davidson's Palisades Circus collection struck me; I knew instantly that this was the image I would use. There is a great sadness to the image, which drew me in and made me want to look further. The denotative element to the image is a 1950s circus dwarf, smoking a cigarette outside the circus tent. The sparseness of the grounds would imply that the image was shot after the show when the crowds had left.

What initially struck me was the juxtaposition of the man, dressed as a clown, an entertainer in binary opposition to the barren, grimy setting. The use of colour, or lack of it greatly enhances the desolate feeling of the empty showground, vibrant hues of the clown’s makeup and circus tent becoming a bleak monochrome. A lone lorry and the circus tent balance the background, far from the buzzing crowds expected around a circus tent, two dark figures can be made out in the distance; the day is drab, wet and dreary.

The juxtaposition goes further; signifiers of happiness, the clown’s painted smile and raised eyebrows cover a downturned mouth and a tired, sunken brow. A child’s entertainer drawing on his half smoked cigarette shows the contrast between his real life and that which he portrays when the circus is alive.  The clown’s other hand holds a bunch of wilted flowers, giving a connotation of sadness and neglect apparent throughout the image. The clown is not looking towards the camera; he appears deep in thought and oblivious to the photographer.

The conflicting messages of these binary opposites create friction, prompting the viewer to question the contrasts between the painted smiles of circus entertainers and their true selves. The viewer is invited to look deeper into the narrative behind the painted smile, now questioning the true feelings and character of the clown.

The image was taken at a circus in Palisades, New Jersey in 1958, a time when ‘circus dwarfs’ had been big business. Agents could make a very comfortable living recruiting the myriad of people classed as freaks at the time, little people being a firm favourite of many. This series shows an era close to its end as circus life gives way to more modern forms of entertainment such as television.

"I was chronicling the end of something, the last tent shows. Television put paid to the era of the circus performer and you can feel that sense of sadness, of a time passing into history, in the photographs."

Davidson has photographed the clown from above with a wide angled lens giving him a lost, childlike quality, enhanced by the vast, empty space behind. It is a realistic view as seen from the perspective of most adults, however a lower perspective would have given a more powerful impression of the subject. This downward perspective connotes vulnerability, quite reflective of the performer’s position in the world. Seen as freaks, such people had difficulty finding work and many had no option but to enter the world of entertainment. The pay was little compensation to the humiliation and patronisation endured on a daily basis.

Bruce Davidson met his subject, Jimmy Armstrong while photographing three very different circuses in the 1950s.

'I saw the dwarf standing outside the circus tent in the mist of a cold spring afternoon. His distorted torso, normal-sized head and stunted legs both attracted and repelled me. He stood before my camera sad and silent.’ (Telegraph)

Although Davidson used a torso shot, omitting Armstrong’s ‘stunted legs’, I feel that the downward perspective was chosen intentionally to highlight the man’s size. Davidson’s initial feelings towards Armstrong are typical of the time; people who differed from the perceived norm were often hidden away and only seen in arenas such as the circus. In today’s society, a career in entertainment would be an active choice for a talented actor or musician with restricted growth; in 1950s America, it was often the only way to make a living.

Introduced by Diane Arbus into photographing the ‘screwball aspect of the world’ Davidson produced several works throughout his career in which he immersed himself into communities, not normally welcoming of outsiders.

He spent months building relationships and and photographing these communities in a bid, as he describes, to ‘understand his own place in the world’. (Telegraph)

Although seen by many as exploitative, Arbus’ images have also been praised for their honesty; people often hidden away being drawn into the spotlight.

Although his images tell a story, this is not what Davidson is looking for when creating his work. His intention is to capture a mood, the coded iconic message sustained in the emerging series. His relationship with the subject often brings out a story; if anything, the story is being told to him. Armstrong’s story was a reflection of the ‘strange loneliness’ apparent in the world of the travelling circus. During his time with Armstrong, Davidson captured many moments that enhanced the mood of my chosen image; the photograph below shows the clown’s loneliness as a group at a nearby table mocks him. Interestingly, sadness is again signified with a bunch of drab looking flowers.

Although the mood is consistent, I feel that the way this image is shot shows that Davidson is beginning to see Armstrong as person, rather than a subject. The image is shot from a lower perspective, which along with the lack of makeup and costume denotes an average adult eating in a cafe; nothing about his size has been exaggerated, in fact it has been quite played down. The group mocking Armstrong are now shown to be the freaks, clearly lacking humanity towards a person of which the photographer has grown quite fond.

The melancholy mood of these images set a tone for much of Davidson’s future works. His avoidance of the telephoto lens ensures that he is in the thick of his chosen environment, building relationships, becoming part of his subjects’ worlds, rather than an observer. I feel that as a result of this, Davidson’s images give off an honest grittiness, unobtainable from a larger distance. This method of work allows Davidson to rely more on his instincts; he professes to subliminally know when he’s captured a great image, even if he’s not yet sure why.

Bibliography

4127, amer (2011) Everything is sacred - an interview with Bruce Davidson (2006) | #ASX AMERICAN SUBURB X. Available from: <http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/12/interview-interview-with-bruce-davidson.html> [Accessed 4 March 2016].

Barrett, T. (2011) Criticizing photographs: An introduction to understanding images. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education.

Jeffrey, I. and Kozloff, M. (2008) How to read a photograph: Understanding, interpreting and enjoying the great photographer. By Ian Jeffrey, Max Kozloff. London: Thames & Hudson.

Magnum photos (2014) Available from: <https://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2K7O3R9WCZWP> [Accessed 4 March 2016].

Newman, C. (2010) Bruce Davidson: Close encounters. The Telegraph, 14 May. Available from: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/7715452/Bruce-Davidson-close-encounters.html> [Accessed 4 March 2016].

Photos, M. ed. (2013) A year in photography: Magnum archive. Munich, Germany: Prestel.

Sontag, S. (2001) On photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.