Accession Number
2000/2.158.1

Title
JFK Airport, New York City

Artist(s)
Joel Meyerowitz

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1968

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
11 in x 14 in (27.94 cm x 35.56 cm);217 1/2 in x 22 1/8 in (552.45 cm x 56.2 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Selma & Gerald Lotenberg

Label copy
Meyerowitz has the ability to convey the mysterious through unusual juxtapositions of the ordinary. A Cadillac in snow at an airport parking lot is elevated to something mystical by the presence of the Christmas star decoration glowing above it in the darkness. The incongruities of the car and star in the Kennedy Airport lot come together to create an unearthly image of hope.

For the exhibition New York Observed: The Mythology of the City
(July 13 – September 22, 2003)

Subject matter
In this black-and-white photograph, a sedan is parked in an empty lot surrounded by trees on a snowy winter night. A brightly-lit electric Christmas star in the background on the right side of the image towers above the treeline and illuminates specks of precipitation in mid-air. A multitude of leafless branches emanate from a tree on the left side of the image and add visual interest to areas where they overlap and intersect with flags and other trees in the background.

Physical Description
A sedan parked in an empty lot on a snowy night is illuminated by a brightly-lit electric Christmas star.

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
Christmas
car
sedans
snow
snow (precipitation)
stars
trees
winter