Two iconic images of labor.
One pulls toward the earth – three women gleaning a field with the gravity of classical sculpture.
The other defies the earth entirely – eleven ironworkers lunching on a steel beam high above Midtown Manhattan.
Seventy-five years apart. Which endures? Cast your vote 👇
The Gleaners, for definite! I have always believed that the other is probably fake, even though Health and Safety was not a deal then....
Its like comparing night to day or apples to oranges, their differences are to great to compare to each other, if I had to chose one to hang on the wall it would be "A".
I pick A because as long as nature prevails and is not totally poisoned one can glean but the way technology is going I am not sure how future humans will get there food? The B choice presents the idea that technical progress is equivalent to natural progress. I don't know if this can have absolute credibility but in this manner I am not sure that nature will prevail either. I chose A because I rated it this way A=70 percent B=30 percent.
B -besides what it took to get this photograph each individual in the photo is intriguing.
I've always loved B because I couldn't possibly be up there!
B. It’s such a classic picture. It tells the story just just by looking at it. It doesn’t matter what age you are. That’s my opinion on the subject
I choose B, partly because of the history of photography and partly because of the challenge involved in carrying it out.
Just because this image still makes my heart flutter, I have to pick B. This was one of many images taken showing workers on top of skyscrapers hundreds of feet above the ground. This one was featured in "TIME" magazine and still holds its own among iconic images. 'The pay was good, but you had to be willing to die' so it gets my vote.
B. Someone said it could be a manipulated image. In England there was a steeplejack called Fred Dibner. He would climb up old Mill chimneys and walk around the top of them knocking off a brick at a time. No harness just nerves of steel! He used wooden ladders tied together to get to the top of them. I watch films of solo rock climbers free styling up vertical cliffs with no safety harness, so I think guys like these on the photograph definitely exist. Nothing wrong with A but I just take my hat off to the men in B!
B. Lunch Atop a Skyscraper is a phenomenal reminder of what it took to build skyscrapers, which are uniquely American. I will have eternal respect for steelworkers everywhere who have one of the most dangerous jobs ever!
B The uncanny nonchalance of the workers being relaxed enough to eat their lunch in a risky environment is eye-catching, surreal and unique. You won't see that scene again.
B. I am drawn to the iconic photo of the men eating lunch on the beam so high up in the air. At the time, these men acted as this is normal and it probably was for them, but it was very dangerous. They also did not know they were making history,
B . A is a very common sight not so special if you ask me . B . This we wil never ever see again !
And that makes it special
B. The rural way of life in America has declined as agribusiness has taken over. My grandfather made a living off of 2 sections of land in western Kansas. Now, for a family to make a living, they need to rent or buy thousands of acres. I know a family in which four generations are out in the field during harvest. Many small towns are deserted, main street stores boarded up. I have taken hundreds of photographs of abandoned grain elevators in wester Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle.
Love them both. I agree with David, the iron workers evoke so much admiration and awe. A great photo achievement.
B ist für mich eindrucksvoller. das was die Männer da tun musst du zuerst einmal können!
B; one of the most viewed images throughout my life, and phenomenal.
B it is. The drama, camaraderie, and courage to work on skyscrapers is awe inspiring. The simplicity of black and white allows the focus to be completely on the workers.
Would be A for me, certainly more earth concious than those guys hanging in space!
B! Even though I have a distinct fear of heights! (or maybe because of...)
Before I comment, I want to give a fuller explanation of my view point. My husband is a 3rd generation Mohawk iron worker. He and his father and grandfather have built structures and bridges all across the country-from the 19th-20th century. Younger Mohawk nation members are also iron workers today. My dad, 2nd generation construction worker in NYC from 1924-1955 and even for Rockefeller for a while in the 50's. He was an amateur photographer in 1939-40. Based on experiences and stories of Iron workers and construction workers, they reveal another take on this picture-'Lunch on a Skyscraper!'
Historians indicate that the photo of the men having lunch, was shot by an unknown photographer, and that it was a staged publicity photo For the building of Rockefeller Center. They claim that only 2 of the men have been identified by name. So it historically has some mystery about it.
My husband, Gary said, that the photo is considered a known fake among iron workers, because they weren't dangling that high in the sky. He points to several reasons why. One was the placement of the feet and how they were sitting. Another was because you couldn't get 11 iron workers to be so stupid to sit like that, drinking, eating and talking. As the story goes, They were on a platform. Myth or Legend?
The Gleaners by Millet offer a perspective of labors too. Women who are finding something in a field that was harvested and hence gleaning what was left. Millet is a favorite painter of mine. He painted working class people, like the photo shows. So that makes it very interesting to me. Not many painters painted the ordinary common place person in their daily life. I can relate to the painting. My family moved from NYC to a small farm. After the corporate farmers harvested, we too gleaned from the fields what we could. So for me, Millet's painting is extremely real in the sense that I can Identifying with the people he painted and why they acted as they did.
Now which one would I choose to put on my wall.
A to me is much more relatable. It shows the story of survival in a food scarce environment. Today, I see that this is many people's lot. It has been mine and my ancestors lot during times of great difficulties, migration to the US, World War 1, The great Depression, World War 2, and other more specific family and personal dysfunctions and sickness. Food scarcity is a national problem in every nation. Its a killer.
B shows industrial progress. But at the expense of safety to the workers. To me it shows how the men casually sit without safety precautions to show nonchalant fearlessness. The rich profited from the common worker and still does today. I find that it doesn't treat the subject -the men- with any reverence. The people that have risked their lives to build this country are worthy of great respect. I haven't met one, iron worker who believes this picture to be real. On the contrary, they feel it makes them all look ridiculous. To but it bluntly, Gary and a few of his friends, all said, "who in their right mind would sit on a beam high up and have lunch, drink and hang out like that-let a lone, 11 men."
I choose "B". It's definitely my kind of gravity defiant perspective.
B This has both a cultural and biblical meaning. It is capsule of slaves working in the fields in the cultural sense and the biblical meaning goes to the Book of Ruth where it speaks of Boaz instructing his working to leave enough for Ruth to glean the field.
B - I'm intrigued by how this photo, taken from up high, was made. Was there another building next to or near the construction???
I love paintings, even though A is pastel, the subject is gorgeous and so well done. I'd go with A. This is genuine work while the other is a dangerous lunch break. Yikes, I don't believe it's real. It's a cool photo but I prefer the other.
Knowing the story behind the ironworkers and what it took to get this photograph, as a photographer, I have to select B.