 Over the last century, New York has fascinated photographers. Some of them emphasized the skyline and famous bustle of the city. Others focused on the expressive faces of its citizens, which projected the joys, travails, and follies of urban life. As these photographers prowled the streets, they recognized the metropolis as far more than just a charismatic place. They viewed it as the capital of modern times, infused with an energy born of hope and conflict. This vision accentuated New York as an epic concourse of displaced peoples who created an atmosphere of cultural and ethnic differences. Such a perspective was created largely by Jewish photographers, many of an impoverished Lower East Side background. Their historical memory aided them in their sensitive observation of minorities whose rights were unassured by civic institutions. Especially familiar with problems of social identity, Jews took gutsy photographs of citizens confined to the margins of social life. The work in New York: Capital of Photography embodies a critique of social conditions and conveys an affection for citizens in a hard place. Lewis Hine’s engaged response to people in abrasive circumstances foreshadowed the work of Ben Shahn and Walker Evans, influenced the activists of the Photo League, and is evident in the photographs of Helen Levitt, Roy DeCarava, and Louis Faurer. Their lineage turned tragic with the work of Lisette Model, satiric with the photographs of William Klein, and bitter in the art of Leon Levinstein. Later photographers—Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Bruce Davidson, and Nan Goldin—transformed a long-term solicitude into a new fascination with outcasts and subcultures. Even when critical in attitude, all of these photographers remained attached to the city and its unshakable spirit. As they delved into their world, always with relish, New York photographers conveyed the exhilaration of a city that is still very much a work in progress. Max Kozloff
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