Object number1987.53.128
Sign in a Harlem Store Window, 125th Street, New York City
Datec. 1959
Artist
Rosalie Thorne McKenna
(American, 1918-2003)
CultureAmerican
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 4 15/16 x 3 13/16 in. (12.5 x 9.7 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
InscribedOn verso, by unidentified hand, upper center in ink: Sign in a Harlem / store window 125th St. / c. 1959; lower right corner: 87.53.128
MarkingsOn printed label, on verso center: © Rollie McKenna / 1 Hancox Street / Stonington, CT 06378 / (203) 535-0110/2126
ProvenanceGift of the artistVassar Exhibitions
Label TextMcKenna began photographing New York City in the early 1950s when she moved to the Upper East Side of Manhattan and “wandered all over town...taking pictures.” When she learned that Austrian-born photographer Lisette Model—known for her straightforward, humanistic images that were frequently shown at MoMA—was offering photography courses at the New School for Social Research in New York City, she signed up and attended two sessions. This amounted to her only formal instruction in the medium, for she was otherwise completely self-taught and self-made. While her time studying under Model was brief, McKenna considered her a “master of candid shooting” and began experimenting with New York as her subject, snapping images of urban life up and down Manhattan. In many of McKenna’s early images, there are echoes of another admired photographer, Berenice Abbott, who experimented with various vantage points to capture New York’s momentous changes in earlier decades. Like Abbott, McKenna combined documentation of the activities of daily life with a visual attention to the splendor of modern industry, imbuing her subjects with the energy of the city.
DescriptionStore window displaying toilet seats for purchase with sign that reads: Give A TOILET SEAT for ChristmasTerms
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