Object number1987.53.117

Summer, Woman Washing Window, New York City

Date1956

Artist Rosalie Thorne McKenna (American, 1918-2003)

CultureAmerican

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 9 1/2 x 7 9/16 in. (24.1 x 19.2 cm)
Sheet: 9 15/16 x 8 in. (25.2 x 20.3 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of the artist

On View

Not on view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

InscribedOn verso, possibly by artist, center in ink: NYC Candid Summer 56 / #33 Woman / Washing / Window; by unidentified hand, lower right corner in pencil: 87.53.117

MarkingsOn verso, partially obscured stamp center: PHOTO BY: ROLLIE McKENNA / [copyright credit label]; ASMP MEMBER / AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHERS On printed label, on verso center: © Rollie McKenna / 1 Hancox Street / Stonington, CT 06378 / (203) 535-0110/2126

ProvenanceGift of the artist

Vassar Exhibitions

Making a Life in Photography: Rollie McKenna (Loeb)

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.

DescriptionWoman sitting on window sill and leaning out backwards to wash window exterior

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu