Ilustrations, Paintings, and Artifacts at The Museum of the City of New York

On November 7th I went to the Museum of the City of New York, located on 103rd street and fifth avenue. The museum is centered around the artwork, historical artifacts, and imagery connected to the people, architecture, and cultures that have defined New York City throughout its history. The first exhibit I went to was the illustration section of the museum, where there were drawings of popular culture and women from the 1950s. I always loved the pop-art style of the drawings from that period and the aesthetics of the city at that time.  The piece below is called “The girl who was crazy about Jimmy Durante” and it caught my eye.

This drawing is from 1953, and is by an artist who drew advertisements at the time named Mac Connor. It shows an attractive blond women holding a pole amidst the drab gray suits in the subway car. I like this drawing because it gives a visual depiction of the culture at the time in the city. Men were expected to wear suits and hats and read the newspapers, and women were supposed to be all done up in pale makeup, with bushy hairstyles and handsome overcoats. The “Old” New York of the 1940s and 50s has such a sense of energy and development, and seemed to be a simpler time than today. In the caption next to this drawing it said the artist intended to make the viewer have to guide himself through the jungle of arms in order to be rewarded with the view of the women. I like the idea of having to go through a process in looking at a piece of art before seeing certain details and nuances. Another drawing of Mac Connor I liked depicted the iconic beach culture of the 50s.

Another exhibit I went to was a large room with various video clips being projected onto different screens showing the story of European Immigrants to New York, mostly Jewish. Specifically one called Etude, an orchestration made up of “meditative jewels from the YIVO collection. Portraits, street scenes, celebrations” between 1922-1939 according to the descriptive caption. The video showed the faces, streets and the often desolate conditions that faced the immigrants in New York, far from the city with streets lined with gold. Perhaps more so than any other city in the world, New York is one that was constructed and made great by its immigrants, so I thought it was fitting the museum dedicated an entire part of it to the their stories.

As certain New York landmarks reach a number of years of being in existence artists will celebrate their standing with paintings honoring them. The centennial  celebration of Grand Central Terminal was marked by this painting in the museum and I really appreciated it.

The last exhibit I went to was in a section the museum had dedicated towards activism and its place in New York. There were areas dedicated towards the civil rights movement, the activism for lgbt rights and there were interactive interfaces allowing visitors to learn about organizations centered around the protection of immigrant dignity. I looked at the section dedicated to the activism for workers’ rights  that arose out of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and I took a picture of an old sewing machine from the time.

It is the small artifacts, from the shirts to the watches and glasses that capture the spirits of the people who owned them at the time. This museum may not carry the same reputation internationally as MOMA or the Museum of Natural History or even the Guggenheim, but I enjoyed the story it told. As long as I have lived in New York there always seems to be more to learn, more to experience, and this museum definitely taught me some new information about the city I call home.