1969

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

American, born 1934

This photograph demonstrates Friedlander's sophisticated consideration of the relationship between a spectacle and its audience. The photographer turns away from Mount Rushmore in order to capture an ironic scene: tourists stand inside the visitors' center, seemingly disinterested in the monument they came to witness firsthand. The two sightseers in the foreground, while actively looking at the spectacular manmade site, filter their experience of Mount Rushmore through binoculars and a camera's viewfinder. Although these optical devices provide an enhanced view and a permanent record of the imposing monument, they also block the viewers from an unmediated experience of the site.