AA-2026-A472C6
On the image
Every decade needs a natural landmark that requires a human being to stand under it before the photograph counts as proof, and this limestone arch was apparently one of them. The man in the white T-shirt and sunglasses has planted himself dead centre in the frame, less because the light was good there than because that is where the sign, or the guidebook, or the fellow selling postcards at the entrance told him to stand.
He holds something small and dark in one hand, maybe his own camera, maybe a packet of cigarettes, the two most common accessories of the era for a man who wanted to look unbothered by grandeur. The rock has been doing this unbothered thing for several million years longer than he has, arching over the gravel and scrub with the patient indifference of something that has never once needed a holiday.
Somewhere back home there would be a slide projector and a wall, and this would be the one where somebody always asked where it was taken, and the answer was always some version of a shrug and a state name, because in the 1950s a natural wonder did not need a name to be worth photographing, only a person standing in the middle of it for scale.
Visually related — by likeness
Man Beneath a Natural Stone Arch, 1950s Roadside Wonder. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-A472C6. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/man-beneath-a-natural-stone-arch-1950s-roadside-wonder.
@misc{aaAA2026A472C6,
title = {Man Beneath a Natural Stone Arch, 1950s Roadside Wonder},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-A472C6},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/man-beneath-a-natural-stone-arch-1950s-roadside-wonder}
}TY - ART TI - Man Beneath a Natural Stone Arch, 1950s Roadside Wonder PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-A472C6 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/man-beneath-a-natural-stone-arch-1950s-roadside-wonder ER -
From the community
Identifications, corrections, and discussion from readers — reviewed by a librarian before appearing here.
Sign in to add an identification, correction, or comment.
No notes yet — be the first to add what you know about this image.