Picturing the City

Among the many, many, many-to-infinity things I have no talent at, you can include drawing and photography among them. I can't take a decent photograph to save my life (ask my wife, ba dum bum) and, when it comes to drawing, it's like trying to breath in outer space -- hopeless, not at all possible, entirely for naught.

So people who can draw well and take great photographs, I admire the hell out of.

Naturally, a beautiful, diverse, teaming city like New York provides ample opportunities for sketchers and photographers to record great images. Be it the buildings, the streets, the parks, the people, the opportunities NYC affords to such artists is never-ending.

That takes us to two very different projects, currently on display in NYC, where you can see photos and drawings of the city that'll amaze you.

First, Stanley Kubrick. Yes, that guy, one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. Years before he made such classics as Dr. Strangelove, 2001, and A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick was a kid photographer from the Bronx, working for Look magazine. He took a vast number of pictures all over the city in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and you can see them in an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. These pictures are amazing, brilliant captures of New Yorkers and the post-war city. If he had never directed film, Kubrick's photography would still be worth showing all these decades later. It's amazing to think that these photos, which look like they were done by a seasoned professional, were made by someone just out of high school with no formal training. You can see how Kubrick, even then, had impressive visual sensibility, a great "eye", and an innate ability to recognize and frame memorable images. Years before he had a guy riding a missile and crafting some of the most memorable images in cinema history, Kubrick's vision was at work on the streets in NYC.  

Second, the subway. A man named Philip Coppola has undertaken a mission to sketch every one of the 400+ subway stations in NYC. He's been doing it since 1984 and has so far produced six volumes of these drawings. These are meticuleous, finely realized pictures and reveals the true beauty and craftsmanship that went into the building of many of these stations. Right now, at the New York City Transit Museum Annex at Grand Central there is exhibit of several of these pictures and they really make you look at the subway, literally, a different way. Coppola says that he think he'll be dome by 2030 so there's lots more to come.

Picturing NYC is truly an art unto itself.