Art Work: Wings of the Hawk, New York, 1955 by William Klein
Medium: Photograph
Location: NVC 7th floor
What makes this piece interesting is the fact it is black and white, but at the same time shows a lot of brightness. The main components of this work are the bright lights of New York which is what makes up a lot of the image. Repetitions that I see in this image is the bright lights of the signs as well as the signs themselves where one of them displays the name is the piece. Things not similar I see in this are the people present no two people are exactly the same in it. What is being implied/suggested is the complexity of New York and even in and almost random photograph you will see lots of diversity as well as liveliness .This artwork has left me questioning what the purpose of the car taking up much of the image is?
During the 1950s, New York was continuously proceeding and becoming a more popular area. This can be seen in the photo through the big flashing lights on the street. This piece could be looked at as fine art and one thing that this image reminds me of is the saying about New York that it is the city that never sleeps which can be seen in this image because it seems to be dark out, but the lights of the sign still make it bright. I think that the person that is drawn to this the most is someone who is from New York because it is depicting the city they know in a different way. However I think that this artwork could be targeting both New York natives as well as people who are not from New York because it could be used as a way to show the diversity and the energy of New York. I believe that the purpose of this piece is to show how great New York is and how it has a rich history. I think that William Klein intended this purpose in order to show the uniqueness of New York. What he is saying is that today New York is considered one of the most popular if not the most popular cities in the world, but Klein also shows that this New York lifestyle has been one for a long time. The fact that much of the artwork is focused on the flashing lights as well as the movie called “Wings of the Hawk” which is a 3d movie seen on the sign. Both of these aspects give New York almost a futuristic feel and the idea that they are ahead of the times. The image is arranged in a very unique way, Klein uses a wide angle view in the photo which is quite unique and gives it a larger than life perspective.
The pathos that is relevant in this artwork could be seen as the audience that the artwork is attempting to appeal to, so it could be New Yorkers or even foreign people. The logos could be seen as Klein’s photo itself and the uniqueness of the wide-angle and the bright lights shown in the artwork. Lastly the ethos could be used to show Klein’s credibility in creating the artwork, Klein was born in New York and therefore he does know what represents the city. This artwork almost makes me feel alive because of the bright lights that is being displayed and the liveliness of New York in the image. An important thing to point out in this image is that it seems like there are no women present in the image. There are people in the image, but they happen to all be men. This artwork was really interesting because Klein uses a wide-angle and makes the image in black and white while still being able to make the city feel bright.
I think this image is very interesting. Although the image was published in 1995, it’s still black and white which is not something I would expect. I agree with you that the artwork was directed towards new yorkers.
I agree that it’s interesting even though it’s only in black and white because you can still tell that it’s very bright. I also like how the light and dark contrast in this photo because it illustrates how much light is in the area. For example, because of the reflection on what I believe to be a car, you can tell that it’s nighttime since everything is dark except for the light coming off of the building/structure.
I think the picture looks really cool and I like the fact that you called it futuristic. I agree on the fact that although the picture itself has no color other than black and white, it still gives off the appearance that it is bright and adds emphasis to the photograph.