Man with Sordent Soda at Park Picnic, 1950s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

Man with Sordent Soda at Park Picnic, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

An interpretation of depth — not a measured reconstruction

Depth is precomputed and interpretive — the scene falls back to the flat image where a browser can't render it.

Man with Sordent Soda at Park Picnic, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-939815

The Archivist

Ask about this image

Archivist

Step into the scene

Off by default. Turning it on lets the image respond to your cursor with a shallow sense of depth, rebuilt from a depth map computed when the image was catalogued. It is an interpretation for looking, not a measured 3D model — and it falls back to the flat image where the browser can't render it.

On the image

A man sits shirtless in a folding chair at a public park, holding a Sordent brand soda bottle and posing for the camera with the satisfied expression of someone who has found the exact beverage to complete his afternoon. Behind him a woman in a purple hat and dark skirt stands near a beach ball, part of a scattered group spending a Sunday in an open field the way Americans did before air conditioning made the indoors reliably comfortable. The ball at his feet is yellow and blue, the kind sold at five-and-dime stores, and his casual centeredness in the frame suggests this was a deliberate moment rather than a candid one—he knew the camera was coming and wanted to be remembered holding that bottle, as though Sordent were the point of the day rather than incidental to it. The park is full enough to matter but sparse enough that no one has claimed this grass yet, and the trees in the distance are deep summer green. He is exactly the image the soda company hoped for: a regular man, a regular day, a product that made the moment better, or at least colder.

From the community

Identifications, corrections, and discussion from readers — reviewed by a librarian before appearing here.

No notes yet — be the first to add what you know about this image.

Visually related — by likeness

Girl with Beach Ball at Public Park Picnic, 1950s

1950–1959

Children at a Park Picnic, 1950s

1950–1959

Girl in Blue Swimsuit at Cricket Ground, 1950s Chicago

1950–1959

Family Picnic, Public Park, 1950s

1953–1958

Girl Sewing at a Public Park Picnic, 1950s

1950–1959

Three Kids at a Park Picnic, 1950s

1950–1959

Woman and Toddler at Park Picnic, 1950s

1950–1959

Baseball Game, 1950s American Park

1950–1959

Mother and Toddler on Riding Toy, Suburban Lawn, 1950s

1950–1959

Man in Cap Crouching at a Shaded Park, 1950s

1950–1959

Woman and Toddler at Park Picnic, 1950s

1950–1959

Two Children at Backyard Swing Set, 1950s

1950–1959