As luck would have it, the same photograph is on display at two different places in two different sizes at the same time.
Larry Fink’s photo of the beautiful people at Elaine’s is 48″ x 48″ at the Woodmere Art Museum‘s terrific First Woodmere Triennial of Contemporary Photography.
The same photo, “George Plimpton, Jared Paul Stern and Cameron Richardson, Fashion Shoot, Elaine’s, NYC,” is brought down to normal photo-on-the-wall scale at Schmidt/Dean.
The blowup at Woodmere is incredibly physical, making you feel that the woman whose head is tipped back to receive the kiss is right near you, and the beauty of the people and their skin is palpable. The depth feels like a depth you are about to enter.
The smaller version’s depth cannot be stepped in to, just peered into. And the people no longer seem to be peers who share your own space. The kiss loses some of its gaity, the woman’s stretch backward more contained.
I’m not saying I didn’t like the small versions. They have a space that draws you in and leads your eye around to people and details you didn’t pick up on at first glance.
But the lesson in scale is a wow. Don’t miss this chance. See them both.
