Counter-Culture

 Observations:

In this image I see a young gentlemen reading a book to a crowd of bystanders, leaning on a stone pillar. There is a women in white pants and a black long sleeve shirt standing beside him looking down towards the ground. Beside her is a man with cuffed pants playing with a little girl. There is a women smoking a cigarette behind him while listening to the reader. One of the men in the crowd is holding an old camera in his hand while staring at the floor with his leg leaning on a garbage can. The crowd is mainly young men with one older looking gentleman and all but one in the very back is white. Some people look disinterested in the conversation and are staring away.

Historical Assumptions:

This image depicts a crowd of people watching and listening to a young man read from a book. The scene takes place outdoors, possibly in a park judging by the trees in the background. It may be the summer or in a warmer state since everyone is in t-shirts and summer-wear. The pillar that the gentleman is leaning on reads “Holley” and seems to be decorated with intricate detail in the form of leaves and other ornaments as well as plaque under the name Holley. This suggests it may be a memorial of some sort since the writing and design is similar to a headstone. I know there is a park in Greenwich Village in New York City with a bust of Alexander Lyman Holley so this may suggest that this crowd has formed at the entrance to that park. Another factor that may suggest this took place in Greenwich village would be the clothing choice of the gentleman reading the book. His striped shirt and kaki pants was a typical style for the early beatnik generation. The female standing next to him is wearing a black long sleeve turtleneck and white pants. This was the clothing choice of many female beatniks. With these observations, it can be assumed that the two were most likely part of the movement. If you pair this with the location it is even more possible, since many beat poets lived and frequented Greenwich Village.

            The crowd listening to the main gentlemen all look roughly early to mid 20s and are almost all white, suggesting this may have been the early stages or pre-civil rights movement. Since some look rather uninterested in what the gentlemen is reading I would assume this was an impromptu meeting and some may have just stopped to see what was going on. There are very few women in the crowd and most are dressed in casual clothing rather then formal wear. One of the girls is wearing flip-flops and most of the men have loafer styled shoes. This may indicate that those participating are middle-class. Judging by the short hair cuts, cuffed pants and hats a few men in the crowd are wearing I would put the time period of the photograph in the 1950s. Since the reader and the women next to him seem to be part of the beatnik movement I would put it in the later 1950s. It was not uncommon for students to gather for poetry readings during the late 50s which would explain the younger crowd. Also, a gentleman in the crowd is holding an old camera in his hands which was a popular model in that decade, again reiterating the period.

            The 1950s was a time when many young people began to question their parents values and morals. What’s curious about this image is the child sitting with the gentleman. Why is she there? Since many young families started embracing a new more open-minded and freer way of living, it is possible that her parents wanted to expose her to this new mind frame from early on. There is also a woman smoking in the crowd, which would not have been as acceptable in the previous decade suggesting a movement possibly towards the feminist movement of the 1960s. This photograph can be seen as a depiction of the counter culture movement of the 1950s.

 

Observations:

In this image we see a group of predominantly young men and a few women sitting and standing. Two men, one woman and a fourth male or female are knelling on the ground in the middle of the road holding up peace signs with their hands. The woman on the floor is holding up a record or photograph of a topless female with the unidentified fourth person. She is wearing a cross around her neck. One of the men in the photo is topless and the other is shoeless, sitting with them tied to his back pants. He is wearing a flower patterned shirt. There is another gentleman walking behind the crowd dressed in a large poncho. The main crowd in the image is carrying something that looks like a box of records or other items. There is an older white car on the right of the image with a lineup of other cars behind it. The photograph shows stores and shops and a street sign in the background. There are also rows of white buildings stretching down the street.

Historical Assumptions:

Looking at this photograph there are a few clear assumptions that can be made pretty quickly. Looking at the clothing on the people it appears they are middle class. The jeans, t-shirts and poncho are not formal items, nor are they ones that the wealthy class would wear during this period. The hair styles are not elaborate and many of the gentlemen have longer shaggy hair. Upper class conservative people of the time would have more neatly styled and, in the case of the women, bigger more elaborate hair. Judging from the flower pattern on the one gentleman’s shirt and the poncho I would place the period in the later 1960s. The flower on the person’s shirt was a popular design in the 1960s and was a symbol for many hippies during this period however the lack of psychedelic patterns and bellbottoms suggests 1967-1969. Also, the car in the background and the signs on the building are typical of the 1960s.

            If we can assume that this is the 1960s then these young people are most likely part of the counterculture during this era. The peace sign the 3 people are holding up is reflective of the hippie/youth philosophy. They believed in and promoted peace and love instead of the more conservative ideologies from the previous decades. Many hippies were also very spiritual so the cross on the girls neck maybe a symbol of that. The fact that the gentlemen is not wearing shoes is also a similar image for many hippies. The architecture of the buildings in the background of the photograph was typically found in San Francisco. If you look closely you can read that the street sign in the background says Ashbury. In the 60s many youth who were park of the counterculture lived in San Francisco in Haight-Ashbury. This is another sign of the decade and movement these youth may be a part of as well as the location of this photograph.

            If we are correct in the above assumptions then it would not be uncommon for these people to be sitting in the streets. The 60s often saw youth protests and sit-ins or be-ins take place. The photo or record that the 2 people are holding up gives the feeling of a memorial or a protest. In the later part of the decade many hippies, especially in the Haight-Ashbury district found that their way of life was becoming less desired. The group behind the four people sitting appear to be carrying a box of records away. This suggests the may be packing their things up and leaving San Francisco. This was a period where many youth who were part of the counterculture were being forced to leave the area. It would then be much more plausible that the hippies sitting are peacefully saluting their way of life while watching it carried out.