Aspen

This lone storefront in a Colorado mountain town is centered in the picture frame almost like a portrait, encouraging the viewer to scrutinize every worn and weathered feature. The flat-on elevation view was not often used to portray ordinary architecture, but it gives this humble subject a certain weight. Morris’ printing style seemed to magnify the intense high elevation light, with deep blacks next to bright whites, while streaks of clouds in the sky further dramatize the subject. Active in the 1940s, Wright Morris crisscrossed the country several times, photographing abandoned 19th-century structures.