A HELLUVA TOWN

BY: Ramona Duoba

At the Museum of the City of New York, the exhibition, Collecting New York’s Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious, features many of the Museum’s recent acquisitions that are now part of its permanent collection. The photographs on view are the works of well-known and emerging artists including Janette Beckman, Bruce Davidson, Martha Cooper, Helen Levitt, Richard Sandler, Gail Thacker, James Van DerZee, Harvey Wang, among others. “At its core, the exhibition is about street life and the way people live in the city, said Sean Corcoran, the Museum’s curator of prints and photographs. “We’re trying to include all five boroughs and many different lifestyles and be pretty inclusive in showing the exciting range and diversity of the city.”

With more than 100 photographs covering the 20th century and into the 21st century, the exhibit highlights not only the typical daily lives of New Yorkers but some of its notable residents. The 1948 photograph of the Marx Brothers, taken by one of the premier portrait photographers of the mid-century, Yousuf Karsh, the brothers were symbolic New Yorkers. “The Marx Brothers’ picture is really kind of on point for us because it’s these brothers who became world-famous, but they started out as kids on the New York’s Lower East Side,” said Corcoran, “that story of success, of making it from the streets of New York.”

In 1978, Allan Tannenbaum, a photojournalist who worked for the Soho News and covered the music scene, captured an impromptu photo of Sid Vicious of the punk band, The Sex Pistols. Vicious was leaving The Chelsea Hotel under arrest for suspicion of the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. The image became an infamous moment in New York City history. Tannenbaum was also a friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and photographed them many times. “Both of them had previous lives in other places,” said Corcoran, “but New York definitely feels a sense of ownership of John.” The 1980 photo of John and Yoko was taken outside the Dakota, their Upper Westside Home.

As a backdrop in a photo by Harvey Wang, the grittiness of New York captures a group of young girls, dressed in white, twirling their batons. Wang lived in the East Village and shot a series of photographs documenting his neighborhood. A tough area at the time, the image evokes a feeling of community and joy.

Also on view is the work of Aaron Siskind, a street photographer who was a key member of New York’s Photo League. He led a project called the Harlem Document, where he and other Photo League members documented different aspects of Harlem life, from clubs to street life. It was one of the most important visual records of Harlem during the great depression.

The exhibition also includes a series of snapshots taken by a New York City employee, Robert Iulo. In 1998 Iulo worked for the Rudy Giuliani administration to photograph sex clubs in Times Square and around the city, documenting the businesses and their locations. “Part of his job was also to go inside to witness what was being sold and what was happening in these establishments, explained Corcoran, “so when the city moved to close them for any infraction, there was documentation and that he was a witness to what was happening.”

Collecting New York’s Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious goes beyond the collection of photographs. Its companion gallery includes garments, posters, and decorative objects that illustrate daily life. The exhibition peels back the layers to reveal the city’s evolution and its people. Curator Sean Corcoran hopes visitors “walk away with a sense of the kind of unique and dynamic energy and the diversity of life and lifestyles that take place in the city.”

Collecting New York’s Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious at the Museum of New York City is now on view.