Front / Recto

  • Title Daily News Building, 220 East 42nd Street, Manhattan
  • Negative Date November 21, 1935
  • Print Date 1935–55
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 9 5/8 × 7 1/2" (24.4 × 19.1 cm)
    Other 4 5/16 × 7 7/16" (11 × 18.9 cm)
  • Place Taken New York
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1599.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Berenice Abbott/Commerce Graphics

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions Stamped twice in black ink on sheet verso, top center: FEDERAL ART PROJECT/"Changing New York"/PHOTOGRAPHS BY BERENICE ABBOTT [with square outline; second stamp crossed out]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, center: 93 [circled]. Inscribed in red pencil on sheet verso, center: ←22 [illegible]→. Inscribed in blue pencil on sheet verso, center right: 12-45. Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, bottom center: Title: [inscribed in pencil on title line inside stamp: Daily News Building]/Place:/Neg. #/Code: [with square outline] [inscribed in pencil within stamp outline: 42d Street Between 2d and 3rd Avenues, Manhattan]. Printed in black ink on attached sheet recto, bottom: DAILY NEWS BUILDING AND ENVIRONS, 1935/TAKEN WITH CENTURY UNIVERSAL 8 x 10 VIEW CAMERA ON TRIPOD./THIS PHOTOGRAPH ILLUSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF SELECTION/TO MAKE VISUAL THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE CITY. IF THE CON-/TEMPORARY IS GENERALLY ANARCHISTIC AND WITHOUT PLAN,/NOTHING COULD PROVE THE POINT MORE VIVIDLY THAN THE JUXTA-/POSITION OF THE FUNCTIONAL SKYSCRAPER WITH THE POWERHOUSE/SMOKESTACKS AND THE BROWNSTONE FRONT DWELLINGS. IT IS IN-. Inscribed in pencil on attached sheet verso, top right: H1922-41-29.
  • Provenance The artist, New York; to Robert Self Gallery, London, probably 1979 [1]; to Paul Kasmin, London [2]; to Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, September 29, 1989 [4]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 1. A show of work by Eugène Atget and Berenice Abbott took place at Robert Self Gallery in 1979.
    [2] Ibid.
    [3] Ibid.
    [4] Ibid.; and MacGill/Walther 2000(2), p. 35.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Contact print
  • PTM
    View of the recto of the artwork made using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) software, which exaggerates subtle surface details and renders the features of the artwork plainly visible. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Micro-raking
    Raking-light close-up image, as shot. Area of detail is 6.7 x 6.7 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
    Raking-light close-up image, processed. Processing included removal of color, equalization of the histogram, and sharpening, all designed to enhance visual comparison. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Paper Material

  • Format Imperial
  • Weight Double weight
  • Thickness (mm) 0.39
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis No fiber data available
  • Material Techniques Developing-out paper
  • XRF

    This work was determined to be a gelatin silver print via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry.

    The following elements have been positively identified in the work, through XRF readings taken from its recto and verso (or from the mount, where the verso was not accessible):

    • Recto: Al, P, S, Sr, Ag, Ba
    • Verso: Al, S, Ca, Cr, Sr, Ba

    The graphs below show XRF spectra for three areas on the print: two of the recto—from areas of maximum and minimum image density (Dmax and Dmin)—and one of the verso or mount. The background spectrum represents the contribution of the XRF instrument itself. The first graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the lower energy range (0 to 8 keV). The second graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the higher energy range (8 to 40 keV).

    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Al, P, S, Ca, Cr, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Sr, Ag

In Context

Related Images

Spread from Berenice Abbott and Elizabeth McCausland. Changing New York. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1939. Right: Daily News Building, 220 East 42nd Street, Manhattan. © 2014 Berenice Abbott/Commerce Graphics

Historical Publications

  • “A Woman Photographs the Face of a Changing City.” Life, January 3, 1938, p. 44 (as In the Daily News Building Berenice Abbott sees the breath-taking verticalness that makes Manhattan’s skyline).

    Abbott, Berenice, and Elizabeth McCausland. Changing New York, pl. 65 (as Daily News Building, 220 East 42nd Street, Manhattan). New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1939.

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