The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

New York

c.1940

Andreas Feininger

(American, 1906–1999)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 34.2 x 27.1 cm (13 7/16 x 10 11/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
Louis D. Kacalieff, M.D. Fund 1981.30
Location: Not on view

Description

Although the skyscraper originated in the 1880s, it was not until the 1910s and 1920s that a vertical building boom created the steep-walled canyons exemplified in Andreas Feininger’s photograph. The scale of the city changed drastically over the 1920s and 1930s. In the center of the photograph, the New York Stock Exchange Building, built in 1903 on Wall Street, is dwarfed by the later skyscrapers. The construction of massive office buildings was spurred by the need to accommodate a burgeoning white-collar workforce spawned by industrialization and rapid economic growth.
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1981.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 2 (February 1982): 39–82. Reproduced: p. 64; Mentioned: p. 79, no. 37 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 154
  • A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920–1950. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-November 7, 2021).
    Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007); Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2009-January 3, 2010).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (6/24/07 - 9/16/07) and Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittburgh, PA (10/3/2009 - 1/3/2010); "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art", no exhibition catalogue.
    The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=New York|url=false|author=Andreas Feininger|year=c.1940|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1981.30