The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

New York

New York

1938
(American, 1913–2009)
Image: 14.5 x 21.1 cm (5 11/16 x 8 5/16 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
© Film Documents LLC, courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne
Location: not on view

Description

A frequent theme for Helen Levitt was the power of the imagination in children’s play in New York City’s poorer neighborhoods. The boys with toy guns may be playing war or cops and robbers. Whatever scenario they chose, their game echoed grave events from the adult world. Levitt often used a right-angle viewfinder so her subjects were unaware; they thought she was pointing the camera in another direction. The children in Walter Rosenblum’s image, in contrast, smile directly at the photographer as they express the sheer physical joy and glee of taking flight on swings.
  • Ed Wells
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 222
  • A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920-1950. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-November 7, 2021).
    From Riches to Rags: American Photography in the Depression. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 13-December 31, 2017).
    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).
    Recent Acquisitions: Prints, Drawings, Photographs. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 13-November 27, 1994).
  • {{cite web|title=New York|url=false|author=Helen Levitt|year=1938|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.214