John Rosenthal, East Ninth Street, 1974
Photographs testify to the relentless effacements of time. ... No matter what the conceptual intent of the photographer - whether it be "serious" image-making or family snapshots - the camera renders, first and foremost, and with indisputable sufficiency, the details and lineaments of its subject: a smooth, fresh, laughing face, the sleek angularity of a new building, a dotted veil worn by a woman coming out of church. Years later - when the young face is wrinkled and the modern building looks corny and nobody wears veils anymore - these photographs tell a story. And who could have guessed what that story would be? The melancholy of time inheres in photographs, in the resemblance that no longer resembles.
- John Rosenthal
As a young photographer based in Chapel Hill, John Rosenthal would travel with his Pentax camera to New York City where Manhattan, like the cobblestone streets of the Marais for Eugene Atget, offered endless possibilities. Rosenthal was drawn to photograph things that he “thought might not be around too much longer“ and his first major body of work was published in the book entitled Regarding Manhattan. The Lower East Side, before Urban Outfitters moved in, was ripe with “signs of mortality”. Rosenthal hones in on timeworn “details and lineaments” that are so engaging in this image from the hand-drawn “Girl Wanted” sign in the window, the beat-up garbage cans, the exposed crumbling infrastructure, and especially the old man, Nick, with his old dog.
The photograph is masterfully composed with a quartet of trashcans and four storefront windows with advertisements occupying one side of the frame. The crowd of details on one side of the photograph only emphasizes the two true actors in the image on the other side, and Rosenthal notes: “the real event in the photograph is the touching co-equal bond between man and dog.“ Nick is elevated as if on a stage by the stoop of his establishment as he leans against the balustrade. His white hair, crisp shirt, and apron link him to his dog who is also elevated on the doorstep. Both are seen in contrast to the dark portals behind them. Rosenthal must have sensed the luminosity of this image, even at the moment the shutter clicked. The symbolic value of this photograph endures and speaks to all who rely on animal companions for support. And from the perspective of the battle of small business owners for survival, Nick with his polished shoes and faithful dog in the sunlight of a mid-morning break from work, appears all the more poignant.
GreenHill is planning a retrospective of photographs by Rosenthal entitled Living in the Ordinary World: John Rosenthal Photographs 1974-2022.
John Rosenthal’s latest book, After: The Silence of the Lower Ninth Ward, was published in the tenth year after Hurricane Katrina. GreenHill featured Rosenthal's photographs in the 2010 North Carolina Art Council Fellows Exhibition.
North Carolina Bookwatch Interview
John Rosenthal
NC Arts Council