Andreas Feininger photograph collection
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Date
Creator
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Language of Materials
Abstract
The collection consists of Andreas Feininger's depictions of New York City from 1939 through 1954, and the 1970s through early 1980s. 1940s views depict Times Square, Fifth Avenue, elevated railroads, the Brooklyn Bridge, the waterfront and river traffic, shops and shop owners in a variety of neighborhoods, and a variety of street, park, and skyline views. 1970s and 1980s views depict graffiti, signs, murals, posters, billboards, reflections, water tanks, fire escapes, and especially the Times Square area with its characteristic erotic film venues and advertisements.
Biographical Note
Andreas Feininger (1906-1999) was born in Paris to American painter and teacher Lyonel Feininger and Julia Berg. He attended public school and Gymnasium in Germany, and from 1922 through 1925 apprenticed as a cabinetmaker at the Bauhaus in Weimar, where his father was head of the Graphics Workshop. Between 1925 and 1928, Feininger studied architecture, first at the Staatliche Bauschule Weimar and then at the Anhaltische Bauschule zu Zerbst, from which he graduated summa cum laude. While studying architecture, he developed an interest in photography and set up his own darkroom.
While working as an architect in Germany between 1928 and 1931, Feininger developed his photographic skills and saw his photographs published in Der Photospiegel and other magazines and newspapers through the Dephot agency. By 1932, as an American, Feininger was barred from working in Germany by Hitler's regulations on foreign workers. He traveled to Paris, working for Le Corbusier for ten months before finding barriers to getting a French work visa during the depression. He moved on to Sweden in the summer of 1933, and in 1934 had set up a photography firm catering to architects. His work began being published in Swedish architectural journals, and published the first of several technical photography books he would write between 1934 and 1939, Menschen vor der Kamera.
In 1934, Feininger met and married Gertrude Wysse Hägg, and their son Tomas was born the following year. In December of 1939, the family emigrated to the United States to escape the war, settling in New York. Feininger worked as a freelance photographer for the Black Star agency from 1940 through 1941, and then briefly for the U.S. Office of War Information in 1941 and 1942. He began doing some work for Life magazine in 1941, and in 1943 he was appointed staff photographer, a position which would garner him fame and recognition; he remained with the magazine until 1962. Feininger's first one-man exhibition, The Anatomy of Nature, came in 1957 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Feininger continued to be a prolific writer and photographer, producing over 50 books, both technical and photographic, as well as writing columns for Popular Photography and Modern Photography. He has been the subject of several retrospective exhibitions, including one at the International Center of Photography in New York in 1976. Feininger died in New York on February 18, 1999 at the age of 92.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in three series:
Series I: New York in the Forties
Series II: Historical Photographs for The Face of New York
Series III: New York in the 1970s and 1980s
Within each series, photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject or geographic location.
Scope and Contents
The Andreas Feininger Photograph Collection consists of ca. 775 gelatin silver photographs, and primarily contains photographs depicting New York City throughout the 1940s, 1970s, and 1980s. Feininger's photographs from the late 1950s and 1960s are not available in this repository. Also included is a series of photographs of historical prints, maps, and copies of earlier New York photographers' depictions of the city. The collection is divided into three series: New York in the Forties; Historical Photographs for The Face of New York; and New York in the 1970s and 1980s.
Copyright Note: Researchers should be aware that Andreas Feininger worked as a photographer for Life magazine between 1941 and 1962; AOL Time Warner, Inc. owns the copyright to those photographs. Many of the photographs in Series I were originally taken by Feininger for Life magazine; a note on the verso of the title of page of New York in the Forties indicates that at the time of publication, photographs on the following page numbers were used with permission of Life and copyrighted by Time, Inc. (now AOL Time Warner, Inc.): 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 34, 54, 56-57, 66, 67, 68-69, 78, 79, 80, 81, 98, 142-143, 161. Both the photographs and the folder listing for this series have been annotated with page numbers; permission to reproduce these photographs must be sought from the copyright owner. Some photographs for Series II were taken for Life as well. Researchers should investigate copyright of these images.
Subjects
Topics
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as: Andreas Feininger Photograph Collection, PR 207, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of Andreas Feininger in 1976, 1979, and 1990.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: New York in the Forties
Scope and Contents note
Series I consists of a series of 162 gelatin silver photographs, ranging in size from 8 x 10 to 13 1/4 x 22 inches, that were published in Feininger's 1978 volume New York in the Forties. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by subjects which were assigned during processing. Photographs depict New York City neighborhoods, buildings, street life, shops, bridges and elevated railroads between ca. 1939 and 1954. His classic telephoto views of the New York skyline, the crowds of 42nd Street, and the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge rising above its pedestrian traffic make up the bulk of this series. In the introduction to New York in the Forties, John von Hartz notes that the "the 40s linger in the collective consciousness of New Yorkers as 'the good old days,'" and while Feininger's photographs show the grandeur of the towering cityscape, he also points his camera at a more ominous side of New York in his portraits of men at tattoo parlors on the Bowery, the poor shoeshine man on Fifth Avenue, desperate men lined up outside an employment agency at the tail end of the depression, and the dark skyline of the World War II dimouts.
Feininger often focused his lens on the shops, vendors and other market places of the city. His series of photographs on the Jewish Lower East Side shows the preponderance of the Yiddish language on signs and the variety of religious Judaica and kosher food shops catering to the needs of the local community. Views of Chinatown shops portray men lined up to read the latest war-related headlines on the window of a Chinese language newspaper, as well as Chinese groceries and vendors. Other views show Italians on Mulberry Street and grocery stores in Harlem.
Views of New Yorkers engaging in leisure time activities are included in Feininger's photographs of Coney Island and Central Park. Other subjects include the elevated railroads, ship traffic, passengers boarding ocean liners on the Hudson River, and the lights and theaters of Times Square. Snow covered land- and cityscapes can also be found under the subjects South Street and Lower Manhattan Waterfront, Central Park, and Fifth Avenue.
One folder of oversize hinged views from this series is housed at the end of the collection in Flat Files, Folder 87. Notes have been provided throughout the folder listing for this series to lead researchers to pertinent items.
Most of the photographs in this series are stamped, dated, and signed by the photographer. Photographs from this series were exhibited in The New-York Historical Society exhibit New York in the Forties: Photographs by Andreas Feininger in 1978.
42nd Street (86, 87, 88, 94, 95), 1940, undated, inclusive
Bowery (100, 101, 102, 103), 1940, inclusive
Brooklyn Bridge (20, 28-29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34), 1940-1954, inclusive
Brooklyn Waterfront and Brooklyn Navy Yard (24, 25, 26, 27), 1946, inclusive
Central Park (138, 139, 140, 141), 1940, inclusive
Churches and Cemeteries (71, 170, 180-181), 1940, 1952, inclusive
Coney Island (142-143, 144, 145), undated
Delivery Trucks and Carts (112, 113), 1940, inclusive
Downtown Skyport (14, 15), 1940, inclusive
Elevated Railroads and Elevated Highways (146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159), [1939-1940], inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 87
Empire State Building, one during the 1943 Dimout (1, 80), 1943-1944, inclusive
Ferries and Ferry Terminals (38, 39, 40, 41, 50, 55), 1940-1942, inclusive
Fifth Avenue, one during Blizzard of 1947 (66, 67, 68-69, 105)
Flatiron Building (73), 1940, inclusive
Fulton Fish Market (21, 22, 23), [1940], 1946, inclusive
George Washington Bridge (35), 1948, inclusive
Gravesend Bay (178, 179), 1946, 1948, inclusive
Harlem (104), [1940-1950], inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 87
Hudson River and Riverfront (46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 60, 61, 64-65), 1940-1950, inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 87
La Guardia Airport (174, 175), 1940, inclusive
Lower Manhattan (160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 168, 169, 171), 1940, 1946, inclusive
Madison Square Garden, interior during Joe Louis v. Joe Walcott fight (98), 1947, inclusive
Manhattan Bridge (36), [1940-1949], inclusive
Metropolitan Opera House, interior (99), [1940-1949], inclusive
Miscellaneous Street Scenes (74,75, 166, 167), 1940-[1949], inclusive
Pennsylvania Station, interiors (79, 172, 173), 1940-1943, inclusive
Rockefeller Center (70, 72), 1940, inclusive
Shops, Vendors, and Stands - Chinatown (134, 135, 136, 137), [1940-1942], inclusive
Shops, Vendors, and Stands - Jewish Lower East Side (118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127), 1940-[1949], inclusive
Shops, Vendors, and Stands - Miscellaneous (106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 114, 115, 116, 117, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133), 1940-[1949], inclusive
Skyline Views of Manhattan (2-3, 6, 7, 8-9, 12, 76, 77, 84, 85), 1941-1949, inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 87
South Street and Lower Manhattan Waterfront (13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 44-45, 54), 1940-[1949], inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 87
Statue of Liberty, during 1943 dimout (81), 1943, inclusive
Times Square (78, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93), 1940-1950, inclusive
Williamsburg Bridge (37), 1940, inclusive
Series II: Historical Photographs for The Face of New York
Scope and Contents note
Series II consists of a group of ca. 450 photographs 5 x 7 to 11 x 14 inches, that were taken by Feininger for his 1954 book The Face of New York: The City As It Was and As It Is, which contrasted photographs of historical depictions of New York with more modern photographs. This series consists of Feininger's photographs of historical prints, drawings, and artworks (some of which came from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York), and includes copy photographs of the work of earlier New York photographers such as William J. Roege, J.S. Johnston, Jacob Riis, and others. This series does not contain any of Feininger's modern photography used in the book. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by subjects which were assigned during processing. Numerous photographs within this series are duplicates; three folders of 11 x 14 inch duplicate prints are filed at the end of the series; other duplicates are filed together under the appropriate subject. Most of the photographs in this series are not dated and are presumed to have been taken generally in the years before the book's publication in 1954; the subjects depicted in the photographs date from as early as the 17th century, for example in a photograph of a 1651 drawing of houses in New Amsterdam.
Some of the photographs in this series bear Feininger's stamp, but many do not, although they were donated by Feininger as a set from The Face of New York book project.
Aerial Views of Manhattan, undated
Bird's Eye Views of Manhattan, undated
Brooklyn Bridge, undated
Chinatown, undated
Churches and Cemeteries, undated
Coney Island, undated
Crystal Palace and Latting Observatory, undated
Elevated Railroads, undated
Fifth Avenue, undated
Fire Fighters, undated
Grand Central Terminal, undated
Greenwich Village, undated
Lower East Side, undated
Lower Manhattan, undated
Manhattan Bridge, undated
Maps, undated
Park Avenue above 94th Street, undated
Park Views, undated
Residences, undated
Ship and Harbor Views, undated
Shops, Stores, and Markets, undated
Streetcars, undated
Theaters and Arenas, undated
Miscellaneous and Unidentified Views, undated
Oversize duplicates, undated
Series III: New York in the 1970s and 1980s
Scope and Contents note
Series III consists of ca. 154 of Andreas Feininger's photographs of Manhattan taken from the early 1970s through the 1980s, many of which were exhibited in The New-York Historical Society's shows Manhattan Now: 14 Photographers Look at the Form of the City (1974), Manhattan Observed: Fourteen Photographers Look at New York, 1972-1981 (1981-1982), and The Deuce: Photographs of Times Square by Andreas Feininger (1998). Photographs are filed alphabetically by subject.
Photographs focus on a variety of subjects, the largest of which are Times Square; Graffiti; Signs, Murals, Posters, and Billboards; and Reflections. Many of the photographs of graffiti feature a life-sized black painted figure Feininger refers to as "Shadowman," painted in a variety of locations and variations on buildings and walls. Photographs of signs, murals, posters and billboards depict everything from hand-painted signs in foreign languages to explicit posters for strip clubs. Photographs on security and vandalism reflect Feininger's descriptive annotations on his photographs of a security gate and locked and vandalized bicycles. Feininger's photographs depicting construction, fire escapes, reflections, and water tanks focus on structure and pattern in the architecture of the city. The largest group of photographs depict the Times Square area, especially the signs for sex shops, strip clubs, and theaters of the 1970s and 1980s.
Most of the photographs in this series bear Feininger's stamp and a number reflecting the type of film and date; most are also signed and dated by the photographer.
At the end of this series are a group of oversize exhibition photographs printed for The New-York Historical Society and Raffi Custom Photo Lab, Inc. from Feininger's negatives for several of the aforementioned exhibits. Subjects include billboards, signs, Times Square, skyscrapers and reflections; notes are provided under subjects in the folder listing to lead researchers to pertinent exhibition photographs.
Art Galleries and Museums, interiors, 1975-1983, inclusive
Central Park, 1975-1984, inclusive
Chinatown, 1981, inclusive
Construction, 1980-1984, inclusive
Empire State Building, 1981, inclusive
Fire Escapes, 1981, inclusive
Graffiti, 1981, 1983, inclusive
Grand Central Terminal, 1981, inclusive
Madison Avenue at 25th Street, 1981, inclusive
Reflections, 1975-1984, inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 88, Oversize Exhibition Photographs
Rockefeller Center, 1981, inclusive
Security and Vandalism, 1979-1984, inclusive
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 88
Signs, Murals, Posters and Billboards, 1978-1983, inclusive
General note
See also: Times Square and Flat files, Folder 88, Oversize Exhibition Photographs
Sixth Avenue, 1975-1984, inclusive
Times Square Area
General note
See also: Flat files, Folder 88, Oversize Exhibition Photographs
Water Tanks, 1984, inclusive
West Side, 20s through 50s, 1975, 1981, inclusive
World Trade Center, 1981, 1984, inclusive
Unidentified Building, 1981, inclusive
Oversize Exhibition Photographs, unmatted, [1970-1981], inclusive
Oversize Exhibition Photographs, matted, [1970-1981], inclusive
From Series I: New York in the Forties
Scope and Contents note
Oversize photographs from Series I