One landmark, several treatments

Look through Melanie Viola’s catalogue and the same landmarks keep returning. The Brooklyn Bridge is the subject of ten prints and the Eiffel Tower of twelve. They are not repeats. Her biography says she looks for ways “to combine photography and art”, and these pictures are where that is easiest to see, because the photograph stays put while the treatment changes.

Monochrome and vintage

The clearest case is a pair of Paris pictures taken from the same spot, with the tower framed by trees above the Seine. One is black and white. The other, labelled “urban vintage style”, has a pale green sky and warm brown foliage. The Brooklyn Bridge walkway gets the same two versions: monochrome and vintage.

Text and skyline

A second treatment adds lettering. In the “Text & Skyline” prints the city’s name is set in thin capitals across the sky, large enough to become part of the composition: PARIS above a small, distant tower, and NEW YORK CITY above the bridge and Lower Manhattan.

Colour and collage

The third group moves furthest from the photograph. The watercolour Eiffel Tower comes in pink and in turquoise, with the ironwork showing through a wash of colour. The Brooklyn Bridge “Details” prints cut the bridge’s cables into overlapping panels and add the letters NYC, also in two colourways.

Choosing between them

The practical upshot is that the subject and the mood can be chosen separately. The monochrome versions are the most neutral. The vintage ones bring a little colour without much contrast, and the watercolour and collage prints are the ones to pick when the picture is meant to be the brightest thing in the room.