New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Alfred Stieglitz

George Foster Peabody and Lake George

by 2 Comments

George Foster PeabodyGlen Underwood, the author of the recently published Discovering George Foster Peabody (Abenia Cottage Press, 2025) was at the Lake George Historical Association recently to discuss the life and legacy of the banker and philanthropist. The program included the unveiling of a portrait of Peabody that will hang in the museum.

Appropriately enough, the museum overlooks Shepard Park, named in honor of Peabody’s close friend, Brooklyn politician Edward Morse Shepard (1850-1911). Shepard is remembered at Lake George today largely because the Village park bears his name. Peabody, who actually paid for the park and gave it to the Village, has fared less well. [Read more…] about George Foster Peabody and Lake George

Exhibit Highlights Photographer Consuelo Kanaga (1894-1978)

by Leave a Comment

Illustration: "Consuelo Kanaga" by Kenneth Spencer, 1933, gelatin silver print (Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Wallace B. Putnam from the Estate of Consuelo Kanaga).The Brooklyn Museum will present “Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the Spirit,” a new exhibit opening March 14, 2025. The canon-expanding exhibition charts the major yet overlooked artist’s radical photographic vision across six decades.

The retrospective exhibition presents the work of Consuelo Kanaga (1894–1976), a critical yet overlooked figure in the history of modern photography. Co-organized with and first exhibited at the Fundación MAPFRE in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, followed by a presentation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the survey will return to the Brooklyn Museum, which houses the world’s most extensive Kanaga collection. [Read more…] about Exhibit Highlights Photographer Consuelo Kanaga (1894-1978)

In the Steerage of the Great Atlantic Migration

by 4 Comments

Robert Henri, Portrait of George Luks, 1904Painter George Benjamin Luks was born in August 1867 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. According to the 1880 census, his father was Polish and his mother born in Bavaria. The family then moved to the coal mining borough of Pottstown, Montgomery County, PA, where his father worked as a physician.

Living in the midst of a community of struggling Eastern European families, Luks was directly confronted with the toughness of the immigrant experience. It would determine his career as an artist.

In the Steerage

Luks began his studies at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Dissatisfied with the conservative standard of teaching, he left for Europe and spent time in Düsseldorf (a number of American painters had received their training at the city’s Art Academy). He visited London and Paris. [Read more…] about In the Steerage of the Great Atlantic Migration

The Urinal Controversy: Walter Pach & Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’

by 1 Comment

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917, photograph by Alfred StieglitzFounded by Morris, Gustavus and Gotthelf Pach, the photographic studio of Pach Brothers emerged in the wake of the Civil War. The family had moved from Berlin to the City of New York when the boys were young.

Sharing an interest in the emerging process of photography, they roamed the streets of their local neighborhood taking pictures of scenes and residents. The New York directory of 1866/7 lists the Pach Brothers working at 260 Bowery. A decade later they were operating from a studio on Broadway. [Read more…] about The Urinal Controversy: Walter Pach & Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’

The Iconic Sunflower: A Transatlantic Exchange

by 1 Comment

US Sunflower Suffrage Button (Museum of the City of New York)In August 2020, a celebration took place in New York City to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote. A giant field of sunflowers surrounding the text of the article was displayed on the monumental staircase at Roosevelt Island’s Four Freedoms State Park.

On January 22, 2023, the city celebrated Ukraine’s Day of Unity by honoring the bravery of its citizens and soldiers. It was a day of “reflection and hope for a free tomorrow.” For the occasion Manhattan’s 23rd Street at Flatiron Plaza was adorned with a bed of sunflowers symbolizing New York City’s support for and solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

What was the meaning behind these floral displays? [Read more…] about The Iconic Sunflower: A Transatlantic Exchange

Weegee the Famous: Paparazzo of the Nameless

by 1 Comment

Walter Santesso (centre) as freelance photographer Paparazzo in Federico Fellini’s 1960 film LaThe term paparazzo and its plural form paparazzi were first used in English in a Time magazine article dated April 14th, 1961, entitled “Paparazzi on the Prowl.” The piece put the spotlight on a new type of photographer that was giving Rome’s elegant district around Via Veneto an unpleasant reputation. [Read more…] about Weegee the Famous: Paparazzo of the Nameless

Sadakichi Hartmann: A German-Asian-American Artist’s Struggle for Identity

by 1 Comment

conversations with Walt WhitmanIn response to the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the founding of a new federal agency, the War Relocation Authority (WRA), which began forcibly removing Japanese Americans from the West Coast and relocate them to isolated inland areas. Around 120,000 people were detained in remote camps for the remainder of the Second World War. [Read more…] about Sadakichi Hartmann: A German-Asian-American Artist’s Struggle for Identity

Julien Levy & Art at the Heart of Manhattan

by Leave a Comment

Berenice Abbot’s portrait of Julien Levy in ParisThe late 1920s and 1930s were crucial years in New York’s rise as an international artistic center. Cultural contacts between Europe and the United States multiplied. American artists who had studied in Paris returned with fresh ambitions; dollar rich patrons were willing to finance new initiatives; the First World War had unsettled European artists and gallerists, many of whom settled in New York. They were joined by others who fled the Nazi threat. Manhattan was turning into a Mecca of modernism where a multi-national cohort of artists, dealers and investors mixed and mingled.

By our standards the art world was relatively small. At any one time in that epoch, there were probably fewer than fifteen galleries active in New York with only a handful concentrating on contemporary art. A pioneering role was played by Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery on Fifth Avenue. Operational since 1905, the gallery introduced the Parisian avant-garde to an American audience. In modernist Manhattan, Stieglitz was the Godfather. [Read more…] about Julien Levy & Art at the Heart of Manhattan

Emil Otto Hoppé: Vanguard Photography in London and New York

by 2 Comments

During the 1920s and 1930s, Emil Otto Hoppé was one of the most sought-after photographers in the world. His studio on Cromwell Place, South Kensington, was a magnet for the rich and famous. For years he actively led the emerging photography scene on both sides of the Atlantic, exhibiting his work at the best galleries in London, New York, and elsewhere.

Having produced over thirty photographically-illustrated books, he established himself as a pioneering figure in photographic art. Yet, by the time of his death in 1972, his name and reputation were almost completely forgotten. [Read more…] about Emil Otto Hoppé: Vanguard Photography in London and New York

Anna Ben-Yùsuf: The Bravery of a Migrant Mother

by 1 Comment

Dorothea Lane, Migrant Mother, 1936From the early times of explorers and settlers to the present day, the United States has been a nation of immigrants. Diversity makes the nation tick.

In the history of migration the (often neglected) participation of women has been crucial. Tales of hardship and bravery are legion. The plight of women who have had to make painful sacrifices has been highlighted by artists and historians, though more easily forgotten by the general public.

Zaida Ben Yùsuf joined the American labor force in the 1890s. She was in the vanguard of women who became professionally involved in the production of periodicals, as magazines reached a mass readership and photographs supplanted illustrations. But it was her migrant mother who had blazed the trail. [Read more…] about Anna Ben-Yùsuf: The Bravery of a Migrant Mother

New Book: Historic Landmarks of Old New York

by Leave a Comment

historic landmarks of old new yorkThe new book Historic Landmarks of Old New York (Museyon Guides, 2017) looks at Manhattan’s historic landmarks through photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, Berenice Abbott, Alfred Eisenstaedt and others; quotes by celebrities, from George Washington to Lenny Bruce; and informative anecdotes, including the last public execution in Washington Square, the ghost of Aaron Burr’s lost daughter, Alva Vanderbilt’s costume ball, The Beatles’ “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance and more. [Read more…] about New Book: Historic Landmarks of Old New York

Historic Photos of New York State

by Leave a Comment

Historic Photos of New York StateRichard Reisem’s new book, Historic Photos of New York State (Turner Publishing, 2010) showcases striking black-and-white images that take you on a journey through New York State during the unforgettable landmark epochs of the Civil War, Prohibition, and the Great Depression.

Other historic subjects depicted include the 1939 World’s Fair, the age of the industrialists, the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, European immigrants who disembarked at Ellis Island, the Grand Union Hotel at Saratoga Springs, the State Capital at Albany, Niagara Falls, and more. [Read more…] about Historic Photos of New York State

We Need Your Help Now More Than Ever

New York Almanack receives no public funds.

It’s supported only by readers like you.

Please give today (a monthly recurring gift is best)

PayPal

Venmo

Patreon

Buy Me A Cup of Coffee

CashApp

Use your bank’s “bill pay” option (or just send a check)

Thanks for your support! These are difficult times. Without your support we cannot publish the Almanack.

*Donations are not tax deductible.

(Click the X in the top right corner this box to not see this message again for 7 days).