New York, Wall Street, from Camera Work XLVIII

1916

American, 1890-1976

Paul Strand's image of workers striding down Wall Street in 1916 is an iconic photograph of the 20th century. People are dwarfed by the structure of the buildings, but their shadows cast elongated accents as they head into the early morning sun. New York City's compulsion for commerce is paid tribute by Strand, who had just begun his illustrious career as a photographer. Turning away from the soft focus of earlier photographic styles, his innovative view of realism has been likened to the equivalent of an image cast in bronze.

Photogravure

5 3/16 x 6 7/16 in. (13.1 x 16.3 cm)

Sheet h.: 10 1/4 in.

Sheet w.: 7 5/8 in.

Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund

77.6

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, 200 Photographs from the Museum Collection, Dec. 8, 1983 - Feb. 5, 1984. Text by Rod Slemmons. No cat. no.

Dayton, Ohio, Creative Arts Center, Wright State University, One Hundred Years of Street Photography, Feb. 20 - Apr. 3, 1994.

Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, Alfred Stieglitz and Photography as a Modern Art, July 11 - Sept. 7, 1998.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Modern in America, July 8, 2004 - Feb. 27, 2005.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Order and Border, Feb. 26, 2010 - Aug. 28, 2011.

Published ReferencesSlemmons, Rod. "Photography in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1990, no. 14, p. 21

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