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Photographs of Postwar New York City

In 1945, 40-year-old Todd Webb was discharged from the Navy and decided to move to New York City. Before his time in the navy, Webb had gone through a litany of professions, and he eventually settled on photography after taking a class with Ansel Adams and meeting with Alfred Stieglitz.

Now, with Stieglitz’s encouragement, Webb decided to focus all of his energy on photographing the booming postwar city. He spent his nights sleeping in the kitchen of photographer Harry Callahan’s Harlem apartment, and his days riding the Third Avenue El from 125th Street down to the towers of Midtown, the ethnic enclaves of the Lower East Side, and the historic buildings of the Financial District, capturing signage, architecture, and street life using his large format camera.

 

When he wasn’t taking photos, he was befriending and learning from some of the photographers and artists in the city, such as Berenice Abbot, Georgia O’Keeffe, Lisette Model, and Gordon Parks. In 1946, after a year of photography, the Museum of the City of New York Gave Webb his first exhibition: I See a City.

Below are some of the wonderful photographs that he took during his time in New York.

 
Click on images to enlarge
 
1946 - LaSalle Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Harlem 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - View from the Empire State Building, looking Southeast 
Postwar Photos of New York City

 

 

1946 - 125th Street, Harlem
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - 125th Street, Harlem 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1948 - 3rd Avenue El Looking south from Fulton Street Station 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - East 7th Street 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Fulton Fish Market Wharf 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Tenements and Graveyard from Chatham Square El Station 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - A Whisk Broom Salesman, 125th Street, Harlem
Postwar Photos of New York City
1945 - The Battery 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Near Fulton Fish Market 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1945 - 3rd Avenue from 42nd Street El Station 
Postwar Photos of New York City
 
1946 - Maise, Queen of the Bowery 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - 125th Street and Broadway, Harlem 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - 104th Street
Postwar Photos of New York City
1948 - Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Suffolk and Hester Streets 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Third Avenue and Bowery 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Times Square Sign Painter 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Greenwich Village 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1948 - Mott Street 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Third Avenue 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Orchard Street
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - Amsterdam Avenue near 125th Street 
Postwar Photos of New York City
1946 - 37th Street 
Postwar Photos of New York City

Source: mashable

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