Art : Historical Perspective

View of South Street, From Maiden Lane, New York City ca. 1824

William James Bannett painted ” View Of South Street, From Maiden Lane, New York City” around the year 1824. The modern view of South St. from Maiden Lane is devoid of the ambiance of an actual active and busy dock. Although the photograph taken showed little traffic, it was because I actually got lucky and settled on this one. The others showed a flow of traffic which relates to the business of the streets, especially this one in the commerical district of New York City. These streets today contain the same themes the painting by Bannett convey. They represent commerce, working individuals, trading, and busyness. Only a mere street block before Maiden Lane I was able to see actual huge ships docked at South Street, but these are only remnants of what actually were functional in the 19th century, as shown by Bannett. The aspect of travel, and business is captured in today’s world by the the highway, detour sign, and the edifice on the right. This was on the exact same street corner which Bannett was standing on for his painting. Today’s business district still can get as congested as seen in the painting, except with an image of business suits scurrying these streets, heading to their office building for work.

I attempted to recreate the “View” with a relatively centered vanishing point. The map of this street hasn’t changed, so it is safe to assume we were both in relatively similar locations. Where in Bannett’s painting we see the tops of the residences/places of business along South Street, in today’s version we see only the lower half of scaling buildings.