This image I selected is called “Hartop Goshtigian playing the violin, portrait, photograph.” The man in the photo is an Armenian-American Musician. Him and his wife, Mary, lived in Fresno, California and played music together. When searching for my image I wanted to find one that would interest me. When browsing through the resource guide I read number ten, “California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell.”1 This grabbed my attention because I do not know much about the music culture in 1930’s California. I looked through the collection and saw some really interesting images. There were quite a few photos of instruments and of musicians playing their them. The photo of Goshtigian with his violin caught my eye. 2. It is a simple photo but tells a whole story. The story this photo tells is that of the life in the 1930’s. In this photo you see Goshtigian sitting in a chair outside what is presumably his home. He is in a nice suit, playing his violin. The chair and the house are both rundown and old. He is living in California during the height of the gold rush. To many people with little money. From examining the background, one could assume that Goshtigian’s house is one of many rundown houses all in that area. Since the Goshtigians were both musicians, they probably helped to keep up people’s spirits with their music.
The main historical questions that I am asking are: Why did he want the photo this way? What parts of 1930’s life are shown? How can this photo provide insight into the lives of musicians in the 1930’s? Some of these questions can be answered without further research. They way that Goshtigian is pictured was more than likely his choice. He wore a suit to show that he is still a person even though he may be poor. However, Goshtigian wanted to be seen as a musician over any other label. He does not want to be seen as a struggling or a prospering artist. He just wants to be seen as an artist, period. This photo shows both worlds. The poor background but the hope of success in the future. The suit represents the hope. However as long as he is seen as an artist, that is all that matters. He wants to not labeled as an Armenian artist, colored artist, struggling artist, he just wants to be known as a musician. In regards to the insight of non-White American musicians we can interpret from what we already know. While many people prospered and White Musicians gained fame, musicians of color and other races still struggled. Many of the songs that White singers became famous for, were originally created by an artist of color. Yet the original artist received nothing.
Asking these questions helped me to better analyze the photo. Without questions I would have been looking at this photo without any context or reason. Also, being able to annotate the image and focus on one specific area at a time was very helpful. I was able to look closer and dig deeper into the photo. With the annotation, I was able to write out my thoughts and be more organized. Overall, I found this assignment very interesting. It was a technique I had never used before. This image analysis process will definitely come in handy in other projects outside of this class.
“How Song, Dance and Movies Bailed Us out of the Depression.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2009, www.latimes.com/la-oe-dickstein1-2009apr01-story.html.
http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/kylie-leake-image-analysis
