Among the Sky-Scrapers, Lincoln, Nebr.

C. E. Yocam’s postcard series Among the Sky-Scrapers typically presented one-block prairie towns with deadpan irony. This Lincoln view is the most consequential of the known circuit, for here the multistory commercial blocks of the state capital give the titular joke an unexpected substance. What works as wry flattery in a small town becomes a knowing acknowledgement in the city, a frame that has finally caught up to its subject.