Considered one of the pioneers of straight photography, Paul Strand was influenced by the socially oriented work that Lewis W. Hine developed at the Ethical Culture School and later by Afred Stieglitz, who introduced modern art to the United States. In 1950 Strand travelled to France, taking serveral pictures throughout the country that were published in the book La France de profil, which includes this image of a young man. A simple, direct, and frontal portrait that seems to encapsulate the reflection of an entire life.

From the 1940s Paul Strand became interested in portraying groups of people and communities, an idea that he developed in different countries and cultures, such as France, where he settled in 1955.