New York Sights: Visualizing Old and New New York

Lavishly illustrated, New York Sights surveys the formative period when a nostalgically evoked "Old New York" transformed into "New New York," ultimately becoming the modernist city of the twentieth century. Drawing on photography, film, and painting, the author considers the changing skyline, the grid-plan, the growth of the elevated train, the homes of the leisure classes, and city streets. Among the artists discussed are: Alfred Stieglitz, Jacob Riis, Georgia O'Keefe, John Sloan, Childe Hassam, and George Bellows. The conclusion looks at the post World War II period and the shocking visual reality of a New York skyline without the Twin Towers.