Classic Street Photographs: Naked Man on Brooklyn Bridge by Richard Kalvar


©Richard Kalvar, 1969

Text by Jeanette O’Keefe

Long before I recognized the name Richard Kalvar , this photograph had already etched itself in my mind.

There are so many things that make this a great picture for me. The looming inversed spires of the Brooklyn Bridge; the verticals, diagonals and horizontals of the suspension cables and planks; the way the middle beam cuts the image and pulls the viewer forward.

In 1969, New York was less gentrified and more dangerous. It was a time when the bridge wasn’t congested with tourists, joggers and cyclists every hour of the day, and nifty cars roamed the streets. I was always fascinated with images that captured a time in New York that I did not know, a ghostly testament to the city’s former self.

But what really makes this image is the man on the right. Why is he naked? Why is he stumbling? What just happened? This image raises those questions, but also transcends them.

There is beauty in his posture, grace in his stumble. The shape of the man has a painterly effect. Like one of Jackson Pollock’s splotches that could have gone any which way but is perfectly balanced just the way it is. Or one of Kandinsky’s musical compositions, where abstract shapes and colors evoke particular emotions.

What makes this image stick in my mind is the way Kalvar turned New York’s chaos into harmony. This for me is a classic street photograph.

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  • Te Kata (aka ndiginiz)

    What really hits me about this photo is the impressionable sense (and perhaps sensibility) of caution, implied by the camera angle and the physical position from where the photographer captured the photo.

    “Where?” we already know. But whether with a respect for his own safety or a conscious or unconscious thought-process to shoot from that position, what Kalvar has inherently done is embellish the photo with an atmosphere of confusion as to “Why?” (this man is naked and stumbling around on a bridge) and speculation as to “What?” (this mans state of mind is and intentions are).

    I think in the process of taking this photo Kalvar has subtly revealed an impressionable sense of his own cautions and inhibitions with regard to the subject and the questions of “Why?” and “What?”. ….I could imagine Kalvar looking at this photo any time after reliving the reality of the moment over-and-over again.

    For me its this extension of the photographers presence, state-of-mind and physicality that provides the photograph with a wonderful connectivity and engaging dynamism. Kalvar hasn’t just documented a naked man in a strange weird moment, he has physically, mentally and emotionally been a part of the moment.