Cityscapes
Various artists. Collection of 7 photographs of New York City cityscapes
New York, 1890s-1900s
7 albumen prints, various sizes (2 x 9¼ in. – 9 ¾ x 17 in.). Very good condition over all.
This collection of seven photographs shows incredible views of the New York cityscape.
These seven photographs treat the city as a matter of vantage. Taken largely from the new tall buildings of the 1890s (the World Building on Park Row, the Washington Building at 1 Broadway, and the Produce Exchange tower) they record a shift from the street-level view to an elevated one in which Manhattan reads as a dense field of roofs, chimneys, church spires, steam, and new steel-framed buildings rising through the older fabric.
The collection includes:
Unidentified photographer. Panorama of Civic Center, looking northeast, c. 1900s.
Unidentified photographer. Panorama of Civic Center, looking northeast, c. 1900s.
John S. Johnston, attrib.View S. W. from “World” Building, Park Row, N.Y., undated.
John S. Johnston. View East from Washington Building, N.Y., undated.
John S. Johnston. Panorama of New York (from Tower of Produce Exchange), 1895.
The Civic Center panoramas and Johnston’s tower views make that shift especially clear. Two near-duplicate panoramas show the Brooklyn Bridge at far left, the “Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank” sign in the middle distance, and City Hall reduced by the office buildings gathering around it. From the World Building, Johnston looks southwest, placing the Tribune Building in the foreground and letting the rooftops of lower Manhattan compress toward the Hudson. From the Washington Building, he looks east toward the Brooklyn Bridge through a thicket of roofs and narrow streets. The Produce Exchange panorama, dated 1895, catches the district in transition: the World Building’s dome rises at left, an “American Bank Note” sign is visible in the distance, and a steel-frame structure under construction stands open at center.
Unidentified photographer. Manhattan skyline from the harbor, c. 1890s.
Unidentified photographer. Coney Island, c. 1890s.
At the edges of this group, the city thins into horizon. An unattributed harbor view reduces lower Manhattan to a narrow strip between water and sky. The large-format Coney Island photograph takes the same panoramic impulse in another direction, trading masonry and towers for low wooden roofs, flags, pavilions, and a sprawling resort landscape.
A full description and inventory are available on request.
$5,500