It was such a lovely day today that we walked through the park and down to MoMA. The sky was blue and the light just wonderful for photos – we spent a bit of time in the southern end of the Park taking photos of the Dairy and surrounding areas. The Dairy has an interesting ‘back story’ (as folks say around here). It its inception, the southern portion of Central Park was considered by the designers (Olmsted and Vaux) as the Children’s District. 
This was because it was the first area of the park that would be reached by families traveling from the heart of the city, most of which still lay below 38th St. At that time, one of the critical needs of children was for fresh milk. Unfortunately, a series of scandals and cholera outbreaks placed the dairy production of the city under a cloud of suspicion. To lift suspicion and fulfil the dairy needs of the people, the city provided place where families could find a ready supply of fresh milk when traveling to the park. 
Thus, the dairy was built. The building itself, designed by Vaux and erected in 1870, is a whimsical combination of architectural styles that has been characterized as Victorian Gothic. Half of the Dairy consists of a roofed open gallery, or loggia, made of wood with geometric gingerbread borders. The other half is a granite structure with window treatments and gambrel roof that resembles nothing so much as a country church. The loggia was designed to catch the cool summer breezes that blow across the Pond and to retain as much warmth from the winter sunlight as was possible. 
When it was built the dairy was designed to provide a view of the Pond, but now it gives visitors a lovely view of the Wollman Rink, framed by the skyscrapers in the background. Today, the Dairy serves as a general visitor center and provides the public with information on the design of Central Park, current park events and programs. A new feature is an interactive touch-screen kiosk providing general information about the park. 
Brandt has had several photo exhibitions at MoMA over the years and this one focused on the aspects of light and shade in his work. Despite his German name and heritage, Bill spent most of his life in Britain and documented life there from the 1930s to 1960s. There were works capturing some fascinating landscapes and urban scenes particularly during the war years when he was commissioned by the Ministry of Information to make a photographic record of the blackout. ‘A Night in London’ 1941 was especially evocative of this fearful time in British history.
But my favourites were the photos he took and developed (he always did all of his own printing and developing) in his early days when he was not commissioned, not confronting, not adversarial, not creating propaganda but just passively observing the world; seeing the English way of life through the eyes of an outsider, especially one paying close attention to the often unseen life of the working class. These photos were taken to please only himself and his creativity but they became, in the end, the subject of his first published book: ‘The English at Home'. 
This critically acclaimed work documented all aspects of English life. It captured the aristocracy on their country estates, as well as their domestic staff and parlour maids going about their daily duties. One girl in particular caught his eye and shutter. Sometimes his work was reminiscent of Millet's 'The Angelus' where the workers toiled in the fields. While others captured the fish market or the Welsh coal mines during the depression. And they were exceptional. 
After the war, Brandt left the countryside and went indoors where he concentrated on portraiture. He did a fascinating series on famous artists and celebrities in the hope of capturing the essence of their creativity. He was keen to investigate if one can actually see creativity. It certainly does exist … but is it something that cannot be captured by the camera?
Towards the end of his life Brandt focused on the female nude. And as his work gained a public profile and photography was now a legitimate form of art he now signed his work.
On the way home our Afro-American cab driver commented that ‘the last two weeks had been quiet but today is crazy’. His theory was now that Passover is over things are back to crazy … not one mention of Easter. And then it struck us that in direct contrast to Australia where we have hot crossed buns and eggs in the shops for months leading up to the holiday. There was virtually nothing here on NYC. No hype, no holiday and no mention of Easter in the media. Just the word 'holiday'. Was America being politically correct or has Christianity been replaced?
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