Shoulder

The photo is a low-angled shot of the shoulder of a freight-loader at the Tainan City train station, focusing on the well-toned muscles of the laborer's back and arms and his glistening skin. Bold and powerfully concise, the photo shows only the brim of the workman's bamboo-leaf hat, a compositional approach similar to that Hsu took in 1963's Shape of a Cow. Hsu developed a whole new aesthetic approach, elevating his subjects to a state of sublimity, imbuing his works unlimited imaginative and interpretive space. On a technical level, he is known for his ingenious use of cropping and blank space: Pure, empty sky fills the left side of the photo; by contrast, the workman's hat brim adds a dark tone to the picture's upper-right. By spotlighting the laborer's brawny musculature, the photo implicitly salutes the man's unsung labors. In Taiwan's 1960s photography confluence, Hsu not only pioneered powerful photorealism but was one of few photographers of his generation whose work exhibited both aesthetic and literary qualities.