Currently not on view
Man on girders, mooring mast, Empire State Building,
ca. 1931
Lewis Wickes Hine, 1874–1940; born Oshkosh, WI; died Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; active New York City, NY
x1973-43
Hine was intrigued by the expository nature of photography. He considered the medium more than an art form and used it to highlight the social realities of a rapidly growing nation. After documenting tenement life and child labor in New York City, Hine began to photograph the city’s physical modernization. Commissioned in 1930 to document the Empire State Building’s construction, Hine shot nearly one thousand photographs during the yearlong project, most of which are tributes to the tireless workers as much as to the skyscraper’s architectural feats.
Information
Title
Man on girders, mooring mast, Empire State Building
Dates
ca. 1931
Maker
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 12 x 9.4 cm. (4 3/4 x 3 11/16 in.)
sheet: 13 x 10.3 cm. (5 1/8 x 4 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Anonymous gift
Object Number
x1973-43
Place Made
North America, United States, New York, Manhattan, New York
Inscription
Inscribed, verso: [Unreadable 3 digit number]
Culture
Techniques
- Judith Mara Gutman, Lewis Hine and the American Social Conscience (New York: Walker, 1967)., p. 143 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1974", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 33, no. 1 (1974): p. 37-47., p. 44
-
Karl Steinorth, ed., Lewis Hine: Passionate Journey (Zurich: Edition Stemmle, 1996).
, p. 123 (illus.) -
Lewis Hine (New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2012).
, p. 82 (illus.)
