Andreas Feininger
French-born American, 1906-1999
Times Square at Night
1942.
Silver gelatin print.
Numbered 16 from an edition of 35.
Image size: 33 7/8″ x 25 7/8″ (86.4 × 65.7 cm).
From the portfolio Vintage New York: Andreas Feininger, published in 1987.
Located on the 3rd floor of the Newman Library and Technology Center.
In this black and white photograph, Feininger’s camera captures the view up Broadway from the perspective of a northbound car approaching the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue near 45th Street, also known as Father Duffy Square: like a moth to a flame, Feininger focuses squarely on glittering, bustling Broadway. The neon lights of signs and billboards glow brightly above the myriad cars and busses that populate the street. People play a minor role in this image: we have to strain to find them amidst the patterns and shapes of cars, trolley lines, signs and bulbs. Feininger rarely photographed people or made portraits. The real subject of his composition is the dazzling spectacle of light, contrast and movement that earned this section of Broadway the nickname “The Great White Way.”
I see the image as a metaphor for conveyance and the transitory nature of experience. The cars and trollies are means of transport, but so is the experience of being in Times Square, or of taking in a show or a movie. And, like a car ride from point A to point B the experience of this time in Times Square’s history is fleeting. Busses hadn’t yet replaced trollies, but would by the next decade; the Pepsi-Cola sign hasn’t yet moved, as it would in 1954, to its new advertising spot atop the nearby Bond building; the brilliant neon advertising signs hadn’t yet gone dark each night, as they would for the next eighteen months, to protect New York City from feared air and naval attacks during World War II.
Despite changes over the years that reflect New York City’s shifting fortunes and priorities, Times Square has remained a powerful symbol of New York City as “The Crossroads of the World.” As I narrate this audio-guide in the Summer of 2020, the country is still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. New York City alone has lost over 22,000 lives to the coronavirus. This image of a vibrant Times Square stands in severe contrast to today’s abandoned Times Square streets: few tourists crowd the sidewalks; cars move quickly and freely through the streets. Broadway is dark and will remain so for the rest of the year.
Written by Fay Duftler, graduate student in the Arts Administration program at Baruch College.