Description:
building with a clock, large industrial beam obscures the upper right corner
Label Text:
Although little known today, photographer Sherril Schell was well regarded during the early twentieth century, particularly for his portraits. He began his career in England, where, after wasting his small inheritance, he turned to photography as a way of making a living. He became instantly famous after photographing Rupert Brooke and other notable British poets prior to World War I, and this renown followed him to New York, where he lived until the early 1930s. In addition to photographing artists, actors, and writers for New York publications, Schell became fascinated with the city's newly constructed Art-Deco style skyscrapers.
The Paramount Building, located on Broadway between 43rd and 44th streets, was designed by C.W. and George L. Rapp and completed in 1926. The building was originally constructed for Paramount Pictures film studios. The setbacks on the building were designed as stylized representations of the stepped sides of a mountain. The unusual perspective, shot while the artist was presumably lying on the sidewalk, includes the shadow of an elevated track bisecting the building. The image captures the sense of claustrophobia resulting from a densely built environment, and demonstrates a distinctly modernist approach to constructing pictorial space.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1974.18.2 |
