42nd St.
Photograph
42nd St.
ca. 1942
Gelatin silver print
Image: 10 13/16 × 13 7/16 in. (27.5 × 34.2 cm)
Purchase with funds from the Intrepid Fund
1984.0157.0002
Inscriptions Signed in ink on verso, C: Lisette Model
Stamped in ink on verso, C: © LISETTE MODEL
Inscribed in pencil on verso, TC: 42[?] St
Inscribed in pencil on verso, TLC: 8/
Inscribed in pencil on verso, BLC: SG/3211/0
Stamped in ink on verso, C: © LISETTE MODEL
Inscribed in pencil on verso, TC: 42[?] St
Inscribed in pencil on verso, TLC: 8/
Inscribed in pencil on verso, BLC: SG/3211/0
TextLisette Model’s youth in Vienna included piano lessons with avant-garde musician Arnold Schoenberg, whose twelve-tone compositional technique and principle of developing variation made his name synonymous with modern music in the 1920s. When Model abandoned her musical career in favor of photography in 1933, her brash, unconventional style echoed Schoenberg’s disregard for proper technique. Pointing her camera at the ground during rush hour in New York, where she had emigrated in 1938, she expertly evokes the frenzied cacophony of the city. The unprecedented perspective, suggestive of one who has been trampled underfoot, and the graininess of the print further convey the visceral momentum of the urban environment.
Lisa Hostetler, Ph.D.
Curator in Charge, Department of Photography
Label for A History of Photography [Rotation 1]
May 9–September 28, 2014
Lisa Hostetler, Ph.D.
Curator in Charge, Department of Photography
Label for A History of Photography [Rotation 1]
May 9–September 28, 2014
