Art historians love slide comparisons: two works of art juxtaposed so that something about each work is revealed in the pairing. So imagine our delight when we realized the inadvertent juxtaposition on our own blog. Did you see it? We know some of you did and we were pleased to hear from you.
On August 11th, we posted about Albert Eisenstaedt’s photographs for LIFE magazine of the Vassar campus in 1937. We included an image of a Vassar student walking in front of Main Building on a rainy day. On August 18th, we posted about Cartier-Bresson’s photograph of Alberto Giacometti crossing the street in the rain. The similarities between the two photographs, taken thirty years apart from each other and for different reasons, are compelling.
How does John Berger’s text about an individual being comfortable in their own skin translate to the young Vassar student tripping across campus in a Brooks Brothers camelhair coat?
Are you itching to return to the art history lecture hall, grab a blue book, and write down your thoughts? For now, you can share them with us here.
