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acrobat, must defy thc laws of probabilicy or even of pos-sibility; at rhc limit, he must defy those of the interesting: the photograph becomes "surprising” w hen we do not know why ir has becn takcn; what motive and what inter-est is thcrc in photographing a backlighted nudę in a doorway, thc front of an old car in the grass, a freightcr at the dock, two benches in a field, a womans buttocks at a farmhouse window, an cgg on a naked belly (photographs awarded prizes at a contest for amateurs)? In 3n initial period, Photography, in order to surprise, photographs the notable; but soon, by a familiar ręyęrsal. it dccTccs notable whatever it photographs. Thc^ariytEing what-c*ver” then becomes the sophisticated acme of value.
Since every photograph is contingent (and thereby outside of meaning), Photography can-not signify (aim at a generality) except by assuming a mask. It is this word which Calvino corrcctly uses to designate what makes a face into the product of a socicty and of its history. As in thc portrait of William Casby, photographed by Avcdon: the essence of skwery is herc laid bare: the mask is thc- meaning, insofar as it is absolutely pure (as it was in rhe ancient theater). This is why the great portrait photographcrs are great mytholo-gists: Nadar (the French bourgeoisie), Sander (thc Gcr-mans of pre-Nazi Germany), Avedon (New York’s “upper crust”).
"'The mask is meaning, snsofar as it is absolutely pstre . .
R Avfdon ; William Casby. Bojn a Slavł
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