New York in the Forties

An impressive 162 photographs from a master photojournalist which really capture the feel of the city without seeming too nostalgic. What I love about this book is the straightforward way these photos present an amazing amount of detail. Feininger once said "This world is full of things the eye doesn't see. The camera can see more and ten times better". All these photos reflect that point-of-view beautifully. You just have to flip quickly through the book to realize how comprehensive the selection is: Wall Street business area; the waterfront; Mid-town skyscrapers; Times Square; stations; bridges; parks; the El; customers looking in shops; New Yorker's going about their business; the city at night and Feininger's trade-mark: the telephoto lens landscape shot. The book starts with one of these Manhattan photos, taken fourteen miles away in New Jersey. Another thing that lifts the title out of the usual photo book format are the very detailed captions to most of the photos. Dover are to be congratulated on producing a lovely book for the price though I find it rather frustrating that the photos are only printed in a 133 screen. I recently bought a Andreas Feininger: That's Photography monograph with the photos printed as 200+ screen duotones, it includes many of these New York photos and they look just stunning. ***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

Please see my review for the 1930's book by the same photographer. It is just a continuation of a work well begun by this talented lady photographer. I am just thankful that these books have been reprinted without being changed except for possible correction of typographical errors.

Like other books in the series, captures a moment that has been lost as the world changes! Great piece for those who were there or are there now.

This book is not just great history, it is also great art; and for those of us who have had the good fortune to have lived in this city for some years, it is also personal history, a biography of ourselves. Feininger shows brilliantly the tension that exists in New York between humanity and modernity, between glitter and true human feelings. To me this seems almost Hopperesque, although with less stringency. Andreas Feininger is not unlike his father a master in the portrayal of affectionate structures.

Compared to Dover's Old New York in Early Photographs you really see how NY has changed. The photos are starting to get very familiar. Maybe you even ask yourself, as an Italian, living in a medievil town, why did they knock down those beautiful late 19th century buildings for sky scrappers. The photo of of "fisherman on Sheepshead Bay" offers us the only sense of tranquility. Scary.