Garry Winogrand
(American, 1928-1984)
New York City
1968
Gelatin silver print
8 7/8 x 13 3/16 (22.5 x 33.5 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Purchase and gift of Narbara Schwartz in memory of Eugene M. Schwartz
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery

Above Fifth Avenue, Looking North is a remarkable example of what became known as vernacular photography – photographs made for any purpose other than artistic expression. Here an unnamed photographer has captured another at work, perched perilously high above the city streets. Just twelve blocks from the Little Galleries of the Photo Secession, but worlds away in spirit, this photographer celebrates the distinctly photographic possibilities of his craft: cleverly placing his fellow practitioner to appear as if he were sitting atop a distant building. His subject is sufficiently off centre to allow an unimpeded view up Fifth Avenue with the distinctive cornice of the Flatiron Building, seen here from its less-celebrated backside, visible in the distance.

This photograph is a wonderful example of the bubbling diversity of photographic achievement no matter what the initial intent of the photographer was. There are many pictures in Picturing New York that were made by photographers on assignment, and that in no way detracts from their achievement. Its simply a way of understanding how and why photographers made their pictures.

Underwood and Underwood (American, active 1880-1934)
Above Fifth Avenue, Looking North 1905
Gelatin silver print
9 1/2 x 7 5/16 (24.2 x 18.6 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The New York Times Collection

Lisette Model
(American, born Austria. 1901-1983)
Times Square
1940
Gelatin silver print
15 9/16 x 19 9/16 (39.6 x 49.7 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of the photographer
© 2012 Estate of Lisette Model, courtesy Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris and Keitelman Gallery, Brussels

Unknown Photographer
Brooklyn Bridge
c. 1914
Gelatin silver print
7 5/8 x 9 9/16 (19.4 x 24.3 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The New York Times Collection

Dan Weiner
(American, 1919-1959)
New Years Eve, Times Square
1951
Gelatin silver print
9 1/4 x 13 3/16 (23.5 x 33.5 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of Sandra Weiner
© 2012 Estate of Dan Weiner, courtesy of Sandra Weiner

Cindy Shermans series, Untitled Film Stills, was a landmark, breakthrough body of work that the artist made in New York in the late 1970s. Consisting of 69 black and white photographs, it was a series that brought her international recognition. Sherman set out to create a series of pictures with herself in the role of B-movie ingénues. In this photograph, it is the girl trying to make it good in the big city; you can see her setting out. The way the buildings loom behind her because of the low camera angle accentuates the way in which you can see her feeling lost. You can read the anxiety on her face.

Each photograph from this series is of Cindy Sherman, she is both artist and subject. And even though Sherman is considered the sole author of this picture, in many cases she was not the one to release the shutter, but rather would direct friends, family members or her boyfriend to do it. Sherman also took on the role of director, meticulously planning every detail in the frame, from the costume, the makeup, wig and hairstyle, to the setting and the angle. As such, despite Sherman not pressing the shutter, each of the photographs from the series all unmistakably bears the imprint of her artistic vision.

Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954)
Untitled Film Still #21 1978
Gelatin silver print
7 1/2 x 9 1/2 (19.1 x 24.1 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Horace W. Goldsmith Fund through Robert B. Menschel

In the late 19th century Mulberry Street in the Lower East Side, was one of the most dangerous and crime-ridden neighbourhoods in New York. The Lower East Side at the turn of the nineteenth century was a poverty stricken neighbourhood where thousands of immigrants settled upon their arrival in New York City. Buildings in this area had once been single-family dwellings, but these ‘tenements increasingly became divided into multiple living spaces to accommodate the swelling population. Due to the rapid and enormous influx of people, the area faced severe overcrowding which led to poor housing and working conditions for the newly arrived immigrants.

Immigrant Jacob Riis used the influence of photography to push for change. As a police reporter working for the New York Tribune, he discovered the Lower East Side to be severely impoverished. Determined to expose the slums to the middle and upper class and give a voice to those suffering, Riis produced a photo journal titled How the other half lives featuring his photographs and stories. Still in publication today, this transformative publication pushed for the beginnings of social reform in the area.

Jacob August Riis (American, born Denmark. 1849-1914)
Bandits Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street 1888
Gelatin silver print
19 3/16 x 15 1/2 (48.7 x 39.4 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of the Museum of the City of New York

Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc
The Mount Everest of Manhattan: The Silvered Peak of the Chrysler Building
1930
Gelatin silver print
8 3/4 x 6 13/16 (22.3 x 17.3 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The New York Times Collection

For 40 years, from 1892 to 1932, Ellis Island was the gateway to New York for the more than 12 million immigrants longing for a better life in America. Located in Upper New York Bay within view of the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline, it was both the ‘island of hope and the ‘island of tears, for although millions were granted entry, there were also those whose entry was rejected. Although their stay on the island was relatively brief, it was for many the most uncertain and traumatic episode of their journey in hope of a new life.

American photographer Lewis W. Hine (1874-1940) visited Ellis Island from 1904 to 1909 to photograph the thousands of immigrants passing through each day. Hine quickly realised the power photography had in capturing humanity in its simplest form and gave his subjects a quiet dignity. As we see in Italian Family Looking for Lost Baggage, Ellis Island, New York 1905, his photographs today remain a powerful homage to those who faced unimaginable hardship in the hope of a better future.

Lewis W. Hine (American, 1874-1940)
Italian Family Looking for Lost Baggage, Ellis Island, New York 1905
Gelatin silver print
5 9/16 x 4 5/16 (14.1 x 10.9 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Purchase

Lee Friedlander
(American, born 1934)
New York City
1980
Gelatin silver print
18 5/8 x 12 3/8 (47.3 x 31.5 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Family of Man Fund
© 2012 Lee Friedlander

In the summer of 1940, New Yorkers could travel to Coney Island on the subway for the cost of a nickel from anywhere in the city. The extraordinary human spectacle seen here in Weegees photograph was not unusual, as crowds flocked to the beach in their thousands to escape the citys oppressive heat. With Weegee sitting atop a high vantage point, his assistant, Louie Liatta, was known to have screamed and danced until he got peoples attention. When they looked, Weegee snapped the photograph.

Weegee worked as a freelance press photographer during the 1930s and 1940s, capturing the grit and dark reality of New York urban life and crime. Born in Austria as Ascher Fellig, he earned his name ‘Weegee (adopted from the Ouija board) for his uncanny ability to arrive at often horrific tragedies and crime scenes before the police. With his flash camera and sensationalist instinct, Weegees ingeniousness lay in his ability to bring a new reality, humanity and intensity to documentary street photography. He was on assignment for the short-lived daily newspaper PM when he took this iconic photograph of Coney Island.

Weegee (Arthur Fellig) (American, born Austria. 1899-1968)
Coney Island July 22, 1940
Gelatin silver print
10 5/16 x 13 11/16 (26.2 x 34.8 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Anonymous gift

Walker Evans
(American, 1903-1975)
Girl in Fulton St, New York
1929
Gelatin silver print
7 1/2 x 4 5/8 (19.1 x 11.7 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of the photographer

Henri Cartier-Bresson
(French, 1908-2004)
Near the Hall of Records, New York
1947
Gelatin silver print
15 5/16 x 22 13/16 (38.9 x 57.9 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of the photographer
© 2012 Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum, courtesy Foundation HCB, Paris

During the 1930s while working as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration, Berenice Abbott embarked on an ambitious project to photograph the changing face of New York. Inspired by the massive building boom and the contrasts of the city, she took hundreds of photographs, capturing elegance and poverty, the boroughs, buildings and people. The resulting publication, Changing New York, remains one of the great photographic achievements of the twentieth century.

Abbott took this photograph because the buildings were ‘very handsome. The corner block, 8 Fifth Avenue, was originally a family home built of white Vermont marble that had been divided into a block of flats and re-named The Marble House. Its beautiful white facade was a stark, yet appealing contrast to the red brick of the adjacent buildings. This is an extraordinary, majestically scaled print which allows the full detail and beauty of Abbotts negative to shine forth.

Berenice Abbott (American, 1898-1991)
Fifth Avenue, nos. 4, 6, 8, Manhattan March 20, 1936
Gelatin silver print
15 x 19 1/4 (38.1 x 48.9 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Thomas Walther Collection
Purchase
© 2012 Berenice Abbott/Commerce Graphics, Ltd.