Brick Building on Corner of James Slip and Water Street, New York City

Accession Number
1990/2.51

Title
Brick Building on Corner of James Slip and Water Street, New York City

Artist(s)
Walker Evans

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1933-1934

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
8 in x 10 in (20.32 cm x 25.4 cm);18 1/8 in x 22 1/8 in (46.04 cm x 56.2 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Lunn, Jr., in Honor of the Centennial of The Michigan Daily

Label copy
The choreographer Lincoln Kirstein became a friend of Walker Evans shortly after Evans’s return to New York from Paris in 1927. He wrote of Evans’s work: “Evans’s style is based on moral virtues of patience, surgical accuracy and self-effacement. In order to force details into their firmest relief, he could only work in brilliant sunlight, and the sun had to be on the correct side of the streets. Often many trips to the same house were necessary to avoid shadows cast by trees or other houses; only the spring and fall were favorable seasons.”
Carole McNamara, Assistant Director for Collections & Exhibitions
on the occasion of the exhibition New York Observed: The Mythology of the City
(July 13 – September 22, 2003)

Subject matter
In this photograph of Water Street in Manhattan, Evans frames an empty street corner, devoid of pedestrians and traffic. Strong raking sunlight casts down from the right side of the image, bringing into focus the textures of a building's brick façade and the pavement. The sky to the right is a blindingly bright white light.

Physical Description
This photograph shows the façade of a brick building on a street corner.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Cityscapes
New York City
buildings
buildings (structures)
city
cityscapes (representations)
curbs
fire hydrants
lamp
modern and contemporary art
portfolios
street lighting units
streets

7 Related Resources

Architecture in Photography 1900-1948
(Part of 7 Learning Collections)
Politics, and Social Reform in the US, 1901-1950
(Part of 6 Learning Collections)
New York City
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
The City in Photography 1900-1948
(Part of 8 Learning Collections)
The Modern Metropolis
(Part of 7 Learning Collections)
Documentary Photography & Social Realism
(Part of 9 Learning Collections)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved