Ezra Stoller
We aspired to Ezra Stoller photos
of our work. None of us made the grade
before his death, by stroke, 2004.
While good, his eye made the famous
more famous and a few, unknown, known.
Modern buildings look beautiful
captured by his lens and plates
before humidity and hydrocarbons
smudge the crisp clean lines
and render the Platonic longings real.
Who triumphs by a trick of light
can suffer as the angles shift through time.
of our work. None of us made the grade
before his death, by stroke, 2004.
While good, his eye made the famous
more famous and a few, unknown, known.
Modern buildings look beautiful
captured by his lens and plates
before humidity and hydrocarbons
smudge the crisp clean lines
and render the Platonic longings real.
Who triumphs by a trick of light
can suffer as the angles shift through time.
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Author's Note
Stoller's images of modern buildings remain iconic. The subject matter has aged much less beautifully.
Other stories by Gary Hardaway
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Nicely made. I don't know Stroler. I'm looking him up.
Great alliteration and layering, Gary. The last lines are a knock out!*
Fave, Gary. Killer closing:
"Who triumphs by a trick of light
can suffer as the angles shift through time."
I'm a B&W photo addict. I really like his unique treatment of basically architectural/business subjects.
Stoller studied architecture and understood very well how architects pictured the buildings they designed.
Thanks to all of you for having a look and sharing your response.
The poem has a measured and angular feel like its subject buildings.
Such an interesting, structured, surprising poem, Gary! Thank you for pointing me toward this excellent photographer, too. I do love to learn.
"Societies raise their grandest monuments to what their cultures value most highly."
-M. Mandelbaum *
David said what I thought. The poems mimic the photos well. *
Thanks for introducing me to Stoller.*
"and render the Platonic longings real"
Yest to that. Good piece, Gary.
Stroller is quite interesting. Appreciate finding out about him through the lens of your finely chiseled poem. Thanks. *
Thank you, David, Nonnie, Jake, John, Gary, Sam, and Brenda for spending time with this poem and leaving very nice notes.
As I read this, there's a suggestion that modern buildings only become real in such photographs. What happens then when "humidity and hydrocarbons / smudge the crisp clean lines"?
Lovely poem Gary with sharp observations about the artist, his work and its place in our culture. *
Elizabeth, I think certain modern buildings really do become most effective as photographs and seemed designed for the lens; in person, the taut surfaces have oil-canned a bit or become discolored, cracked, stained. Louis Kahn's work survives better than any I know of and Alvar Aalto's seem to have the adaptive qualities of "traditional" buildings where a little smudge is just a bit of patina.
Thank you, Michael.
Ah, an architecturally inspired poem. Love it with it's lines and angles.
Thank you, Charlotte.
Love the spare, straight economy of this - nothing superfluous, everything flowing and connecting. That last line - moving without trying.