In 1943 the American photographer and school teacher, Aaron Siskind, spent the summer at a fishing village in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Struggling to end a period of creative confusion, he began to photograph objects from close-up. This photograph was produced the following year. As subject matter ceased to be of primary importance, Siskind quickly committed himself to pursuing the abstract possibilities of the photograph. By using close-up views which hide the identity of the object photographed, Siskind makes the banal and overlooked into something unique and significant.