Ruth Orkin, “Times Square, from Astor Hotel,” gelatin silver print, 1950 (© Estate of Ruth Orkin)
NEW YORK’S PHOTO LEAGUE, 1936-1951
Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Saturday, March 24, free, 11:00 am – 5:45
Sunday, March 25, $12, 11:00 am – 5:45 pm
Through 212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org
This is the last weekend to see the Jewish Museum’s expertly curated show “The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951.” For fifteen years, a talented group of artists took to the streets of New York City and other locations, transforming the very nature of documentary photography. Led by Sid Grossman, who encouraged them to use their heart and soul when choosing what and how to shoot, these photographers captured images of peace demonstrations, children playing, crime scenes, and political rallies as well as artfully framed shots of the buildings, subways, and shadows of the city. The exhibition follows the league from their beginnings through their battles during the Red Scare, when they were accused of promoting a socialist and communist agenda. In Jack Manning’s “Elks Parade” (1939), hundreds of people line the fire escapes and rooftop of a building in Harlem to watch the festivities going on below. In Ruth Orkin’s “Boy Jumping into Hudson River” (1948), a boy seems to be suspended in midair as he plunges toward the water. A worker looks out from behind the storefront window in Berenice Abbott’s “Zito’s Bakery, 259 Bleecker St.” (1937). A child stares straight into the camera as the bottom of his jacket floats in the wind in Jerome Liebling’s “Butterfly Boy, New York” (1949). A woman in high heels walks past a timepiece embedded in the ground — which can still be found at the corner of Broadway and Maiden Ln. — in Ida Wyman’s “Sidewalk Clock” (1947). And the world seems to be turning upside down in Fred Stein’s “42nd Street Subway Exit” (1945). There are also photos by Grossman, Walter Rosenblum, Sonia Handelman Meyer, David Vestal, Erika Stone, Weegee, Morris Engel, Lisette Model, Aaron Siskind, and many other men and women. The display ends with a digital grid that arranges the photos by location on a movable map, as well as a documentary film that features interviews with several of the artists, including Rebecca Lepkoff, who is now in her mid-nineties and still active, with the solo show “Life on the Lower East Side” currently on view through the end of the month at the Tenement Museum. You can also find a handful of additional Photo League pictures at the Howard Greenberg Gallery.