1906-2006
AFTER THE RUINS
This project retraces the ruins documented in photographs made after the San Francisco earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906. One third of the city was destroyed, first by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, and then by the ensuing fire that erupted from broken gas lines. It became one of the first major disasters to be recorded extensively in photographs. Both professionals and amateurs used newly available handheld cameras to produce thousands of pictures during and after the event.
The rephotographs were made from the same vantage points of the originals, as nearly as possible. The newer photographs were often made with a wider-angle lens to show more of the contemporary city surrounding the view. Subjects in both pictures were then scaled to the same size and placed side by side in a diptych format. The typical order of placing the older image on the left and newer on the right was reversed. In this way, the normal reading of the pictures from left to right conforms to a visual expectation of entropy: that order (left) breaks down into chaos (right). But the opposite is true in this case, and the city seen on the left shows no signs of having been affected by disaster. This was done to acknowledge that earthquakes are not one-time events and that such a destiny has not yet happened in our time.
Left: The Call Building with Deco Façade, Market and Third Streets, 2003 Right: Burning of the Call Building, W.J. Street, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1906
Left: View from the Ferry Tower, 2003 Right: Market St. from Ferry,, Photographer unknown, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 1906
Left: Waiting hotel van, corner of Stockton and Geary Streets, 2004 Right: Untitled, J.D. Givens, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco 1906
Left: Mills Building, Montgomery and Bush Streets, 2004 Right: Untitled, Photographer unknown, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1906
Left: Taxis along California Street, Kohl Building, 2003 Right: Kohl Building, Photographer unknown, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1906
Left: Hearst Building, Market Street, 2003 Right: Untitled (remains of Hearst Building at Market and Third Streets), Arnold Genthe, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1906
Left: Bike messenger hangout, Donahue Memorial, Market Street and Battery, 2003 Right: Donahue Fountain,, Turrell and Miller, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley May 19, 1906
Left: Steps, 821 Leavenworth, 2003 Right: Stairs that lead to nowhere (after the fire), Arnold Genthe, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1906
Left: South Van Ness at Seventeenth Street, 2003Right: Howard St between 17th and 18th, Photographer unknown, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1906
Left: Lunch time, Union Square and the St Francis Hotel, looking west, 2003 Right: Untitled, Photographer unknown, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1906
Left: Walkway, Stanford University, 2003 Right: Agassiz Statue at Stanford University, W.C. Mendenhall, U.S. Geological Survey, 1906
Left :Oak tree in covered fault line, Point Reyes National Seashore, 2003 Right: Fault trace 2 miles north of the Skinner Ranch at Olema, Grove Karl Gilbert, U.S. Geological Survey view is north, 1906
Top: Panorama from above Market Street, 2003 Bottom: Untitled (Market Street ruins), Photographer unknown, Library of Congress, 1906
On View / In Exhibition
After the Ruins, The Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2006
Philip Fradkin and Mark in the gallery exhibition of After the Ruins, The Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2006.
Related:
After the Ruins: Rephotographing the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
University of California Press, 2005