9 facts about the famous photo 'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper'
Crisis times, however bad, can provide scenarios and situations that generate historical records. This was the case with the famous photo Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, recorded in New York City in 1932.
At the time, the image was intended to convey the idea that the United States, even though it was experiencing the biggest recession of the twentieth century, was building buildings, making progress, and working to recover the economy. And really, seeing workers having lunch on a steel beam suspended 260 meters high shows the dedication of the workers, either out of need or desire for a better life.
It was first published in the New York Herald-Tribune on October 2, 1932, making history as one of the best-known photos in the world. Based on the Mental Floss website publication, we separated 9 curiosities; check out the list below:
1. There are doubts about the photographer's identity
On paintings, T-shirts or fridge magnets, this image has already circled the world. But one of the main questions has no clear answer. Who took the picture? Until the 1950s, it was common for photographers not to take credit for their catches, and on that day specifically several were present. Some names are in the list of possibilities; however, to avoid any problem, those responsible chose to leave it without a definite author.
2. Photograph was made for advertising
Although the workers were real, they did not usually have lunch sitting on a suspended beam. The image was put together as an advertising effort by the Rockefeller Center itself to cheer the population. At the time, 15 million people were looking for a job, and the image of a growing city with its active workforce was intended to convey an encouraging vision of development.
3. Other dangerous photographs were taken on the same day.
We already told you that the photo was not casual, and so others were taken. In addition to the best known, the one we see above shows four men resting on a suspended beam. This belongs to International News Photos, which competes with Acme Newspictures, the original owner of the fateful lunch photo. Even though they have companies with rights to them, both have unknown authors.
4. The original negative is stored in a cave.
The source of such an old photo, over 85 years old, needs special care so as not to deteriorate. For this reason, the original negative is stored in a huge underground vault outside the city of Pittsburgh, called Iron Mountain. There are stored artworks, negatives and government documents from around the world, all under controlled temperature to prevent the deterioration of objects.
5. And it's broken
The original negative of the photo is glass, and at some point in its long journey it broke. Despite this, several high quality copies had been made before, from which copy negatives were extracted that make it possible to print to this day.
6. One documentary was able to identify two workers
During work on a photo documentary called “Men at Lunch, ” director Seán Ó Cualáin was able to identify two workers. At the time, the records were punctual, and only with the help of Rockefeller Center archivist Christine Roussel was it possible to complete this task. After analysis of many photos, the identification was made. From left to right, the third man is Joseph Eckner, and the ninth is Joe Curtis. The others, like the photographer, remain unknown.
7. Over 40, 000 people worked in construction, and there is no record of names
The documentary was encouraged by a note left on one of the copies of the photo in an Irish bar. In it a man said that his father and uncle were in the picture of the beam. This aroused the curiosity of Cualáin, who decided to confirm the identities. To his surprise, there is no record of the workers who worked on the site, let alone those who took part in the picture.
8. Some historians doubt the danger that workers were in
There are theories that the photo is an optical illusion. They were actually on top of the building under construction - no doubt about that - but there are theories pointing out that just below the beam was a finished floor, hidden by the camera angle. This idea was published in the New York Times, but without any confirmation.
9. Was the most lucrative image of its owner
The image originally belonged to Acme Newspictures and was later sold to Corbis Images. She held the rights from 1995 to 2016, when she sold the intellectual property to Visual China Group, which has a distribution agreement with Getty Images. During her time under Corbis, she was the bestseller - considering that the company also has several photos of historic icons such as Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King Jr.
