Urban Views: American Cities 1717-1986

Nov 11 2011 - Apr 22 2012

This exhibition features large scale views of American cities. Throughout the centuries, cartographers and artists have been engaged in attempts to show the cityscape as a grandiose entity. This overall concept of the cityscape features works from the eighteenth century to the present, including maps, prints and photographs. The exhibition includes John Harris after William Burgis, A South Prospect of Ye Flourishing City of New York in the Province of New York in America (The Burgis View), 1717; Unknown artist, An Exact Prospect of CHARLESTON, the Metropolis of the Province of SOUTH CAROLINA, 1762; John Bornet, The City of New York from Union Hill, N.J., 1853; the Thomas Air Views of New York City, 1935-1980; and Claude Samton’s Photomontage of Canal Street, 1986.

John Harris (active 1685-1739) after William Burgis (active in the American colonies 1716-1731), A South Prospect of Ye Flourishing City of New York in the Province of New York in America, 1717. Engraving from four plates on four sheets. New-York Historical Society

Supported, in part, with a grant from the New York StateCouncil on the Arts, a State Agency.

 

Howard Thain's Eye: Discovering New York in the 1920s

Nov 11 2011 - Aug 19 2012

Howard Thain moved to New York in 1919, and he described how during the next decade he spent every moment he could in the streets recording the city and its people “who to my provincial eye seemed incredibly interesting and exotic.” His brief but prolific painting career perfectly coincided with New York’s tumultuous and booming period before the Great Depression. Thain’s contemplative paintings reveal him as a thoughtful observer of the city, writ both large and small.

Howard Thain (1891-1951), Park Avenue at 42nd Street, N.Y.C., 1927. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Mrs. Howard Thain, 1970.40

A disciple of American realism, Thain’s work carried on the tradition of the Ashcan School with its subjects from everyday city life, while anticipating the urban manifestation of the American Scene movement of the 1930s. His paintings often convey the stillness, anonymity, and architectonic solidity of Edward Hopper’s urban views of the period. However, Thain ranged over a greater variety of moods and subjects. He recorded the city’s gleaming architecture, its transportation hubs, its gathering places, and their inhabitants.

WWII & NYC

Oct 5 2012 - May 27 2013

The Second World War (1939–1945) was the most widespread, destructive, and consequential conflict in history. WWII & NYC is an account of how New York and its metropolitan region contributed to Allied victory. The exhibition also explores the captivating, sobering, and moving stories of how New Yorkers experienced and confronted the challenges of “total war.”
Want to see everything—from lectures to films to behind-the-scenes stories—related to WWII & NYC? Click here to visit the WWII & NYC site!

Irving Boyer, Prospect Park, ca. 1942–1944. Oil on academy board. The New-York Historical Society, Gift of Selwyn L. Boyer, from the Boyer Family Collection, 2002.49

When war broke out in 1939, New York was a cosmopolitan, heavily immigrant city, whose people had real stakes in the global conflict and strongly held opinions about whether or not to intervene. The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought the U.S. into the war, and New York became the principal port of embarkation for the warfront.

Photograph Collections

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The extensive photograph collections are particularly strong in portraits and documentary images of New York-area buildings and street scenes from 1839 to 1945, although contemporary photography continues to be collected. The bulk of these images are arranged by location, or, for portraits, by sitter. Both professional and amateur photographers (many unidentified) are represented.

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Landmarks of New York

Apr 30 2009 - Jul 12 2009

An exhibition of 83 photographs documenting some of the most significant buildings and public parks in New York City will be on view at The New-York Historical Society from April 30 through July 12, 2009, in the exhibition Landmarks of New York. The exhibition has traveled to 82 countries under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State since 2006 and is now coming home to New York for its final showing. The photographs in the exhibition will then enter the collection of the New-York Historical Society, through a donation from the exhibition's curator, Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel. 

Brooklyn Bridge, 1867-83 Designated as a landmark August 24, 1967 Photograph by Laura Napier New-York Historical Society

An exhibition of 83 photographs documenting some of the most significant buildings and public parks in New York City will be on view at The New-York Historical Society from April 30 through July 12, 2009, in the exhibition Landmarks of New York. The exhibition has traveled to 82 countries under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State since 2006 and is now coming home to New York for its final showing.

Harlem: Photographs of Camilo José Vergara, 1970–2009

Apr 30 2009 - Jul 12 2009

Spanning nearly four decades of physical and social transformation in a neighborhood that is fabled around the world, the exhibition Harlem 1970–2009: Photographs by Camilo José Vergara will be on view at the New-York Historical Society from April 30 through July 12, 2009.

65 East 125th Street, Harlem, 1980

Spanning nearly four decades of physical and social transformation in a neighborhood that is fabled around the world, the exhibition Harlem 1970–2009: Photographs by Camilo José Vergara will be on view at the New-York Historical Society from April 30 through July 12, 2009.

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