Luna Park at night
Artist
Paul Haviland
(American, born France, 1880 - 1950)
Dateca. 1910
MediumPlatinum print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 4 13/16 × 3 3/4 inches (12.22 × 9.53 cm)
Mount (1): 9 1/8 × 7 5/16 inches (23.18 × 18.57 cm)
Mount (2): 9 1/8 × 7 5/16 inches (23.18 × 18.57 cm)
Mount (1): 9 1/8 × 7 5/16 inches (23.18 × 18.57 cm)
Mount (2): 9 1/8 × 7 5/16 inches (23.18 × 18.57 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.2690
Signednone
Inscribednone
MarkingsOn mount 2 verso, lower left, in pencil: "102.18";
On mount 2 verso, lower right, in pencil: "12".
On View
Not on viewCollections
Terms
Paul Haviland found beauty in popular subjects such as Luna Park, an amusement center in Coney Island, New York, which opened in 1903. Here he renders the park’s dazzling display of electric lights at night, as they suffuse the scene in a soft, steady glow. The soft tonalities of his platinum print further enhance the site’s warm and inviting atmosphere.
In this photograph, Haviland applies the soft-focus aesthetic embraced by the Pictorialists to an urban subject. The Pictorialists were a prominent group of fine art photographers active in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Though many of these artists preferred domestic subjects or still lifes, others, such as Haviland, explored more contemporary subject matter.
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