Recommended titles
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- Historical Images -
The Destruction of Lower Manhattan
by Danny Lyon
powerHouse Books, second edition, march 2005. 160pp.
"...Thirty-eight years after these photographs were made, many of them are the only record that survives of entire blocks of mainly nineteenth-century buildings that once lined Fulton Street and West Street along the Hudson. Because of the disaster that would strike the city a generation later, New Yorkers have taken on a renewed and fervent interest in the architecture of their city. This work is a major contribution to that new world. For Lyon, these buildings in their last days standing were the embodiment of a beauty and pathos that people walking by in the street seldom noticed at the time. Those feelings were preserved in the photographs that today survive exactly as the young author intended: as a memory and a record of what was."
--book description
Impressions Of New York: Prints From The New York Historical Society
by Marilyn Symmes
Princeton Architectural Pr. 2004, 304pp.
book dimensions: 9 x 11 inches
"From its birth as a remote trading outpost on the fringes of the Dutch empire to its current status as the so-called Capital of the World, New York has always captivated visual artists. The extraordinary prints collected by the New-York Historical Society over the course of its history vividly preserve these impressions on paper. In this handsome volume more than 150 of these views of the city -- including two spectacular gatefold panoramas -- speak eloquently of the surging power of this dynamic urban center. At the same time, they present an intimate portrait of everyday life as it has been lived and savored in this great city for more than three centuries. The companion to an exhibition celebrating the New-York Historical Society's bicentennial anniversary, this beautifully printed volume presents a full range of historic images, from 1672 to the present. In the lively essay and information-filled captions, curator and historian Marilyn Symmes tells the unique stories behind the people and places, parks and buildings, streets and neighborhoods, parades and events depicted in each image -- in essence, the story of New York City itself."
--book description
New York, Empire City : 1920-1945
by David Stravitz
Harry N Abrams, 2004. 160pp.
book dimensions: 12 x 10 inches.
"New York between the wars: the city of Babe Ruth, Checker cabs, and Zelda Fitzgerald's infamous dip in the fountain at the Plaza Hotel. That is the city that comes gloriously to life in this fascinating collection of 100 historical photographs of New York's notable streetscapes and landmarks. Discovered serendipitously by author David Stravitz when he was on a hunt for used camera equipment, these rare photographs of the city are accompanied here by informative captions and an insightful essay by architectural historian Christopher Gray.
Not only are these photographs being published for the first time, but the clarity and detail of the images, taken with a large-format camera, are astonishing. One can read the signage on the sides of buildings, examine the items in store windows, and see how people on the streets and sidewalks are dressed. From Trinity Church to Harlem, from Coney Island to Yankee Stadium, these images transport the reader into the heart of a vanished era, when men wore fedoras and the Empire City sparkled with promise."
--book description
New York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott's New York
by Douglas Levere, Bonnie Yochelson, Paul Goldberger
Princeton Architectural Press. 2004, 191pp.
book dimensions: 11 x 8.5 inches, 170 duotones images.
"In 1935 the renowned photographer Berenice Abbott set out on a five-year, WPA-funded project to document New York's transformation from a nineteenth-century city into a modern metropolis of towering skyscrapers. The result was the landmark publication Changing New York, a milestone in the history of photography that stands as an indispensable record of the Depression-era city. More than sixty years later, New York is an even denser city of steel-and-glass and restless energy. Guided by Abbott's voice and vision, New York photographer Douglas Levere has revisited the sites of 100 of Abbott's photographs, meticulously duplicating her compositions with exacting detail; each shot is taken at the same time of day, at the same time of year, and with the same type of camera. New York Changing pairs Levere's and Abbott's images, resulting in a remarkable commentary on the evolution of a metropolis known for constantly reinventing itself."
--book description
Berenice Abbott: Changing New York
by Berenice Abbott, Bonnie Yochelson
New Press. 1999, 400 pp.
book dimensions: paperback, 12 x 9 inches, 307 duotones (complete WPA archives), 113 halftones and line drawings.
"A midwesterner who came to New York in 1918, Abbott moved to Paris in 1921 and worked as Man Ray's photographic assistant. Inspired by French photographer Atget, Abbott returned to America in 1929 to photograph New York City. With the financial support of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1939, she was able to realize her ambition to document a "changing New York," a project that remains the centerpiece of her career.
...Berenice Abbott features more than 300 duotones, arranged geographically in eight sections tracing the photographer's New York City odyssey. It also includes 113 variant images, line drawings, and period maps, as well as an explanatory text, which explores Abbott's compositional choices, her artistic and historical preoccupations, and the history of New York."
Gotham Comes of Age: New York Through the Lens of the Byron Company, 1892-1942
by Peter Simmons, E. L. Doctorow (Intro)
Pomegranate. 1999, 216 pp.
book dimensions: paperback, 11 x 8.5 inches, 172 duotone images.
"Arranged thematically, the photographs showcased here are but a sampling from about 22,000 images produced by the Byron Company's New York City commercial studio over a 50-year period. ... Three earlier books on the Byron Collection failed to show the breadth of the collection, which was recently revealed during an archiving project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
With their large-format cameras, the Byrons went beyond the sheltered world of the upper classes in their elegant houses and ocean liners. Also included are documentary images of Lower East Side tenements, recently arrived steerage passengers, and the African American neighborhood west of Columbus Circle. The reproduction quality here is excellent, and the interpretive captions lend meaning to these definitive views of early 20th-century New York City. ..." --Library Journal, Kathleen Collins, Bank of America Archives, San Francisco
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