New York
Photograph
New York
ca. 1940
Gelatin silver print
Image: 9 3/16 × 6 13/16 in. (23.4 × 17.3 cm)
Mount: 12 3/8 × 8 7/16 in. (31.5 × 21.5 cm)
Matted: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Purchase with funds from the Margaret T. Morris Foundation in memory of Dr. Wesley T. "Bunny" Hansen
1993.0522.0003
Inscriptions Signed, titled, and dated in pencil on mount verso, C: N.Y. © 1940 \ Helen Levitt
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, C: Helen Levitt \ [star]
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, BR: 32 [in triangle]
Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, TL: 103 \ 9 1/2
Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, LC: [aarow]
Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, BR: 39
Inscribed in pencil and mostly erased on mount recto, BC: S__S
Inscribed in blue pencil on mount recto, TR: X
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, C: Helen Levitt \ [star]
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, BR: 32 [in triangle]
Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, TL: 103 \ 9 1/2
Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, LC: [aarow]
Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, BR: 39
Inscribed in pencil and mostly erased on mount recto, BC: S__S
Inscribed in blue pencil on mount recto, TR: X
TextHelen Levitt’s work reveals her fascination with city life, particularly her interest in the children who inhabit urban space. The surrealist notion that children are more attuned to the power of imagination than adults and therefore can better access the unconscious, is implicit in Levitt’s work. Here, she captures boys engrossed in a fantasy world, their imaginations taking them to a place very different from their New York City working-class neighborhood. Levitt seems to use her camera as a way of participating in the boys’ game by capturing the street scene as though it were a theatrical act.
