Getty Museum

Photograph - New York [Yawning Woman]

Date

negative 1916; print 1917

Medium

Photogravure

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

In 1916 Paul Strand began using a camera fitted with a false lens that would allow him to create portraits without his subjects being aware of it. He wanted to explore the notion of recording individuals close-up, without them posing. With an old brass lens attached to the side of his camera and facing forward, Strand could appear to take a photograph of something ahead of him, when in reality he was shooting at ninety degrees to his line of sight, the working lens partially hidden under his arm. These strong and commanding portraits depict average New York citizens. Strand was now working at street level—he was not watching people from [above ](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/106NTA), where they are miniaturized against the urban setting. He was providing a face, an identity (of sorts), for metropolitan anonymity. Strand's photographs effectively bring light into the shadows, illuminating the existence of these residents. In _Portrait—New York_, a harsh raking light comes from the left to reveal one-half of the woman's face as she emerges from the dark background. Strand deliberately places her off center, drawing more attention to her visage, whose weatherworn lines are exaggerated in the bold light. The portraits do not—cannot—tell us who these inhabitants are, but Strand's detailed recording of their faces acknowledges a physical truth and separates the person from the masses. Later discussing the images with the photographer Walter Rosenblum (1919-2006), Strand acknowledged that there was a "psychological difference" that was perceptible when a person was photographed without his or her knowledge. Strand's attempt to capture people without the mask that is typical of a conscious portrait achieved something new that inspired other photographers. The [New York subway portraits](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/106HF6) made by Walker Evans (1903-1975) using a Contax camera hidden in his overcoat were informed, in part, by Strand's street portraits, in particular the photograph of the blind woman. Originally published in _Paul Strand_, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum by Anne M. Lyden (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005), 22. ©2005, J. Paul Getty Trust.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.