Museum Paper Formal Analysis of a Photograph

It is known that almost all the photographers have the major goal – to represent not only good composition of their visual work of art but also its content which can be understood in different ways. The photograph which will be analyzed in this paper is untitled. (Fig.1)
It is located in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The unknown photographer uses gelatin silver print in order to develop the content of his visual work of art in a proper way. This photograph is an expressive one as it gives opportunity to ponder over such things as the theme of the individual’s place in the huge world, the theme of human development, the theme of loneliness and others. The photographer’s intention is to make people think of their mission in this world. The image of the small girl standing in front of the closed doors is a meaningful one as it represents a child who is at the early stage of his development, who does not know what difficulties are waiting for her on her way. The girl is helpless. She is waiting for someone to help her to open the door and to enter a huge house which stands for the huge world around us. Unfortunately, she is not ready to do it herself. She is too small and the door is too heavy to open it. May be this house is a school where this small girl will get her first storage of knowledge.
It is very important to mention that the composition of this work of art is an interesting one. The distribution of visual elements in the picture or its balance is a symmetrical one as it all the visual elements are distributed evenly. The small girl is depicted just in the center of the photograph. Moreover, the doors of the huge house are depicted symmetrically. The central focus includes the doors of the house and the small girl in front of them. The contour of all the objects is sharp. Although the light is distributed unequally in the photograph, there is no sharp contrast between light and dark. However, there is an obvious contrast between the object’s sizes. The girl is too small and the doors of the house are too large. The setting is real in the picture as it is clear that the house is located in some street full of trees. The reflection of trees is found in the glass of the upper part of the door.
Special attention is paid to the distribution of light in the picture. The area where the small girl is depicted is the most highlighted. It means that the girl’s soul is clean. She has a pure white dress on and her dark hair is tied into braids. She has no idea of injustice and violence that prevail in this huge world. She is innocent but she wants to open this door and to enter the new world unknown to her.
Some more important visual elements in the photograph include the lines which are created by the objects such as the door with two glass windows, the windows of the house, the stairs. They help to create geometric shapes of the objects.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that the photograph analyzed in this paper can be interpreted in different ways. However, it is obvious that the key intention of the photographer is to show an innocent child facing this huge world full of dangers. Our goal is to help this child to open the door into the unknown world.