Images of the 1930s

These pictures have nothing in common but the decade in which they were taken, but I thought they were both striking enough to post. This one was taken by Robert Capa during the Spanish Civil War. It was one of several thousand negatives of photos taken by Capa and two collaborators that were recently found in a suitcase:

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There are more photos from the suitcase if you follow the link. Some have denounced Capa as a Communist propagandist, but I haven’t researched that as my interest for the moment is entirely aesthetic.

This one I couldn’t place when I first saw it at Ace of Spades, but it is the GE Building, 30 Rockefeller Center, when you could still see the whole thing. It’s a gorgeous photo, I think, and Ace has a link to a higher-resolution version. What I want to know is, where was it taken from? Click to enlarge:

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If you look down a couple of stories from the top you will see a terrace that at one time you could access from the Rainbow Room. A couple of years ago, my wife and two of my daughters ventured out onto that terrace via a narrow ledge (illegally, I believe) while another daughter and I looked on (away, actually) with horror.

From some perspectives it’s hard to say anything good about the 1930s, but, hey–no era is all bad.

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