An Analysis of Hercules Brown in the Standard Oil Archive

Visual Analysis Essay

Hercules Brown As I scrolled through the photos in “The Gordon Parks Foundation Archive”, I saw many compelling photographs. A lot of them are striking in their own right and beautifully shot, however, the one that really caught my eye was Hercules Brown in the Standard Oil archive. (http://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/archive/standard-oil-1944-48#8 )

The photo tells the story of a hard working store owner by the name of Hercules Brown. This photo embodied what small town oil looked like, it personified it.

I ended up landing on the on the photo of a mysterious man who stared deep into the camera lens. Ultimately what helped me finalize my decision was of the look of the emotion the photo caught in his eyes. The photograph displays the shop owner Hercules Brown in his store in Maine. When you look into the eyes of the man in the photograph, you can see the artist skillfully captures the personality of a strong yet mysterious man.

The man is looking straight into the camera lens with a stern expression on his face and his arms folded, showing he is a bit guarded.

The lighting that the artist used aids in providing an air of mystery with half of his face in the shadows. His clothing choice shows that he is a tenacious and hardworking man, more than likely on the poorer side. Interestingly enough, you are drawn in by the eyes of this man but he is not the main focus of the photograph or positioned front and center.

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In determining the framing of the photograph the artist chose to put the man in front of his store, however, he didn’t put him front and center. Hercules was placed in the lower right-hand side of the photo, giving the background of the photo a more prominent display.

The background in conjunction with the man’s clothes helps support evidence of the era in which this was shot. I believe the artist left the products in the background to emphasize the small oil town aspect. In most big cities most stores are chain stores and they are organized differently than this store. Tins and the items in the background were sorts of disorganized and the way they are displayed indicate this is a “mom & pop” that Hercules owned. You can most certainly draw the conclusion that he owned the shop instead of the conclusion he was a patron by the paper that has “invoice” written in bold letters.

The way that piece of paper was positioned made it stand out in the photo and was placed in clear view. It’s also safe to presume he was probably closing or opening the shop because there is no light shining through the lantern. Even with the use of the Greyscale coloring, the light would have still shone through. The greyscale was used in this photo to help emphasize the lighting in the photo. The lighting provides and adds mystery to the man compelling you to take a deeper look.

Positioning the lighting from the top right corner creates shadows on this man’s face which help us see more of his age. They greyscale used helps bring out the wear in his clothing suggesting he is hardworking and lower class. It is pretty interesting to see how the lighting is focused on the man and not the items in the background. There are shadows cast directly on the man but the items in the background are clear enough to see them fully. I believe that this helps tie into why the photo was framed with him in the corner, still sitting in the front, but not in the center.

Ultimately, this photo was just one of many in the archive list and was probably over looked by many. Each photo displayed was beautiful in their own right, each with their own unique story to tell. On the surface, this photo seems simple and less complex than the other ones in the file or in comparison with the other photos archived. However, it’s that same simplicity that allows the photograph to hide the many layers that come together to grab the viewers’ attention and give the audience a peep inside the world of Mr. Hercules Brown.