Antiques & Collectibles

Last weekend, I went to see Capture the Moment, a traveling exhibit of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio.

These are photos that you see with your heart as well as your eyes. Many are disturbing. Many are heart warming. The best ones seem somehow, to be both.

Vewing them outside their original context, as part of the exhibit, Capture the Moment, it was sometimes difficult to remember that these photographs are news first, and art second.

What was amazing about these pictures was the obvious emotional involvement of the photographers, most of which, one assumes, are/were experienced, hardbitten photojournalists. It is somehow clear that the person behind the camera was deeply moved by what was in front of it.

Nat Fein’s 1949 photograph of Babe Ruth Retiring #3 is just such a photo. In it, the babe stands in front of a sea of faces, and although we see him only from the back, despair is writ large in every line of his failing body as he makes his farewell appearence at the House that Ruth Built.

These pictures are not only about news, they’re about people, and how they’re affected by news. Except for the 2002 winner, The Attack on the World Trade Center. For me, this photograph was most disturbing of all, not because of content, but because unlike its counterparts, it was utterly lacking in the humanity that made the other winners so compelling. It’s beautifully composed and framed, the strong horizontals a good graphic counterpoint to the strong verticals. The orange fireball contrasts nicely with the clear blue of the September sky, and the small pieces of airbourne debris add a satisfying textural effect. It’s all there, except the terrible cost to the victims and the country.