Letter to the Editor of the New York Times

Chronicling the Homeless, a Photographer Meets Their Fate

New York Times, 8/27/2000

To the editor:

Most any student of the history of art will recognize that photographer Salvo Galano's representation of Ronald, one of his homeless subjects (illus. NYTimes 8/27/00, Metro section p. 31 [see below]), borrows its form and ultimately also its meaning from a long history of representing ancient and modern outdoor dwellers. Indeed, the artist has gone to some effort to depict Ronald as a descendant of a family of ancient and Renaissance river-gods (cf., the one in the Capitoline Mueum in Rome, and another in Raphael's "Judgement of Paris"), including the modernized version in Edward Manet's famous "Luncheon one the Grass" (Louvre).

Anyone familiar with this well-known allegorical tradition will quickly conclude that artist Galano has quoted these works to show his subject's noble sympathy with nature and to remind us of the elemental humanity that forever binds us together. Yet, it is testimony to the artist's achievement that the same effect is achieved even when the history behind the art is unknown to the viewer.

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