Larry Silver photographs
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Abstract
The Larry Silver Photograph Collection consists of 58 gelatin silver prints of New York City, mainly Manhattan and the Bronx, taken between 1949 and 1989. The majority of the photographs are from the early 1950s.
Biographical Note
Larry Silver was born in the Bronx in 1934. He began photographing as a student at the High School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, and his early photography focused on the urban environment around him. Mentored by Lou Bernstein and other Photo League photographers, Silver's work won him a scholarship to the Art Center School in Los Angeles. There he documented the culture of body builders at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica.
Silver returned to the East Coast in 1959, and opened a photography studio in New York City. His photographs have apppeared in numerous publications, including Forbes, Life, and Time. Larry Silver's work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.
His work has been published in numerous books and catalogues including Made in California (2000); New York, Portrait of a City (2010); This Was the Photo League (2001) and Suburban Visions (2002).
Scope and Contents Note
The Larry Silver Photograph Collection consists of 58 gelatin silver prints taken from 1949-1989, mostly in Manhattan and the Bronx. The photographs capture scenes of everyday life in New York City, particularly during the post-World War II era of the early 1950s. Images include a street carnival; an argument on the subway between two elderly women; a woman swimming in the East River; a camp for children with polio; people waiting for a train at Grand Central Terminal; and laundry hanging out on a clothesline strung between apartment buildings.
Children feature prominently in many photographs: two boys playing on a construction site; kids having a snowball fight; children peering into a toy shop window; a boy with crutches climbing to the top of a slide. Notable landmarks include the Empire State Building, the original Pennsylvania Station before it was demolished, and the United Nations building when it was a new addition to the city's skyline; as well as iconic locations such as the subway, the river piers, Central Park, and New York Botanical Gardens.
Subjects
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 Note
This collection should be cited as the Larry Silver Photographs, PR 306, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of William and Jeryl Silverstein, 2014