AA-2026-0ABE31
On the image
A girl of about seven stands alone on a flat rooftop in bright sunlight, wearing a red short-sleeved blouse and a pleated striped skirt, her blonde hair curled and set. Behind her, a modernist institutional building—four stories of pale cream brick punctuated by small square windows—rises clean and anonymous against a clear sky. A flag snaps from the roof edge, and a metal fence runs the length of the rooftop's perimeter. She was dressed up for this, which means someone decided a rooftop was an acceptable place to bring a child for a portrait, that the height and exposure were not a problem worth mentioning. The fence and the flag suggest this was a public building—a school, a government office, a hospital—and in the 1950s, such places had rooftops that were simply open to whoever worked there or belonged there. She stands centered in the frame, composed, her shadow sharp beneath her on the concrete. No one has yet invented the liability that would seal rooftops off from casual use.
Visually related — by likeness
Girl on Rooftop, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-0ABE31. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-on-rooftop-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20260ABE31,
title = {Girl on Rooftop, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-0ABE31},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-on-rooftop-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Girl on Rooftop, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-0ABE31 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-on-rooftop-1950s ER -
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