JF Ptak Science Books LLC    Post 294

It is unusual in my experience to stumble upon three unusual, found-art images (as in the three below) that are found on one page of a magazine.  In this case, it is the Illustriete Zeitung (Leipzig), issue 4299 (page 178) for 1915, and the three photographs are all quite atonal, somehow–they’re just not quite “right”, and all perhaps for different reasons.

The first image shows this unusual private ferry in New York City harbor–how this made any sense, I don’t know, especially since that water is pretty choppy and this vessel looks not terrifically seaworthy.  The passenger (or driver at least) and the boatman are also very, very straight!  I honestly just don’t know anything about single-car ferries in the harbor so late in the game as 1915.

I’m not sure why this image strikes me as being so peculiar in the second image–perhaps it is simply the retreating perspective, or the fact that it looks like a drawing, or the placards along the construction fence at the bottom of the photo; or maybe its the only solitary-looking  figure set against all of those (strangely opened) windows.  Whatever it is, that is odd or somewhat “off”, I like it.

The third image is just quite and odd.  Is that bridge portable and expandable?  Is it actually supporting the tank and not failing? It is just a flat-out uncommon composition.

Perhaps the unifying factor here is the very apparent “quietness” of the pictures, and their solitude, even in the midst of the NYC harbor.