Danny Lyon’s Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Port-au-Prince [1983–1986] and Esphyr Slobodkina’s Composition with Red Circle [1950] illustrate the fundamental differences between representational and non-representational art. Lyon’s photograph is representational, capturing a physical street scene in Haiti to document social reality. In contrast, Slobodkina’s painting is non-representational, relying on formal elements such as geometric shapes and color to create a self-contained visual experience. While Lyon uses scale and contrast to establish spatial depth and narrative focus, Slobodkina employs these same principles to construct a balanced, non-objective composition.

In Lyon’s Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines, scale is used to create a sense of dominance and perspective. The large figure in the foreground carries significant visual weight, contrasting with the smaller woman in the mid-ground to establish spatial depth within the urban environment. Similarly, Slobodkina’s Composition with Red Circle utilizes scale, though not to represent physical space. Instead, large overlapping planes and a prominent red circle establish a hierarchy of forms that guide the viewer’s eye across the composition. Visual weight in this work is determined by color saturation and geometric relationships rather than three-dimensional proximity.

Line and contrast further distinguish these works. Lyon’s documentary style relies on strong vertical lines and value contrast, characteristic of gelatin-silver prints, to organize the composition and emphasize the figures within the scene. Slobodkina’s work, by contrast, employs sharp diagonals and a limited color palette to create movement and visual tension without referencing a physical environment. Lyon’s image directs the viewer into a depicted space, while Slobodkina’s composition emphasizes the surface and formal structure of the artwork itself. Both artists effectively apply formal principles, though their purposes differ between representation and abstraction.

Esphyr Slobodkina (American, b. Russia, 1908–2002), Levitator #1,1950, oil on board, Heckscher Museum of Art, Gift of Martin, Richard, Nancy, and James Sinkoff in loving memory of their parents, Alice and Marvin Sinkoff, 2003.7.2.

Danny Lyon (American, b. 1942), Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Port-au-Prince, 1983-1986. Gelatin-silver print, 8 5/8 × 13 in. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk. Gift of George Stephanopoulos, 2011.6.7.