Cincinnati, 1963
Gelatin silver print
14 × 11 in
December 29, 2025
This photograph is a quintessential example of the Lee Friedlander way of seeing. Friedlander’s reputation rests in large part on his portrayal of the "social landscape”, and his depictions of public spaces are often characterized by the dense profusion of elements within them. Friedlander tended towards a compositional style typified by a pleasant jumble of visual information—he gives you a lot to look at. His favored subjects were unassuming situations like this one where, lacking any central drama, the eye is invited to wander, and stitch together its own narrative.
The double image created by the reflections on shop windows was one of his favorite devices for creating visually rich images. Here he creates a kind of composite portrait of a street in Cincinnati, that does indeed read as a landscape: clock radios, a turntable, and other home goods serve as the foothills, a bed's filigreed coverlet stretches into the middle distance, and a horizon is formed by the silhouettes of a lamp post and the surrounding Midwestern architecture—all while the store's display lights look down like heavenly bodies from above.
