[Three Bikers Defy Gravity]

Alexandre Garai

1927 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Garai managed the Berlin branch of the Keystone View Company, an early international stock- photography agency, before becoming head of the Paris office, where this photograph was published. Its bold composition is in keeping with the agency’s interest in the radical perspectives of avant-garde European photography. Photojournalists became tasked not only with reporting current events but also with finding visually engaging graphics to draw the attention of readers increasingly inundated by media imagery. Rather than offering the viewpoint of a member of the audience, this dizzying shot suggests photography can provide a perspective even more thrilling than firsthand experience.

Artist

Alexandre Garai

Date

1927

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2009