Less is more in Paul Strand's American dream

Has there been a more violent white picket fence in the history of American photography? White Fence, Port Kent, New York (1916) is one of the first images you encounter in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s exemplary show on the US photographer Paul Strand (1890-1976). The depth of field has been flattened turning the two buildings in the background into rectangles, while that white picket fence cuts across the picture frame like a set of train tracks laying claim to the Wild West.
It is a