Tony Vaccaro in 'This Is New York'

 

Via NPR

June 1, 2023

In a town where private space is at a premium, this 1953 photo from Michael "Tony" Vaccaro 

taken for LOOK magazine shows off a stylish way to get a city view.

Michael "Tony" Vaccaro /Museum of the City of New York

Visiting New York City this summer? A fun, family-friendly exhibit celebrating movies, TV shows, music, books, fashion and art inspired by the city is now open at the Museum of the City of New York.

This Is New York is in celebration of the museum's own centennial. It turns out that the past 100 years have been rich ones for depicting the city.

"1923 is really at the beginning of mass American culture ... Radio, film, it's at the beginning of a whole cultural explosion," said Lilly Tuttle, one of the curators. She said the exhibit is meant to capture New York as artists have experienced it during that time. It's not a love letter.

"It's a crowded, dirty, smelly, rude, cacophonous place. And also glamorous and wonderful and glitzy and fabulous and elegant and cool. And artists across time and across media have captured that," she said. "It's all in here, all at once."

But there's so much to see — in this corner, Jake LaMotta's boxing gloves from Raging Bull! In that corner, a video mocking the meme Pizza Rat! — that it can be overwhelming. Full article here.

Visit the exhibition here.

Tony Vaccaro

Gwen Verdon, New York City, NY, 1953