#emptynewyork

DC Moore Gallery in Chelsea currently has an exhibition on view of rare unseen photographs by the New York-based artist Duane Michals. The 37 silver gelatin photographs on view were all taken in the 1960s in New York City. The series focuses on transitional early morning moments in New York City shops, parks, subway cars, and train stations.  The series reflects Duane Michals' admiration for the work of French photographer Eugene Atget who memorably photographed the streets of Paris. As Michals has said, “It was a fortuitous event for me [to discover the work of Eugene Atget in a book]. I became so enchanted by the intimacy of the rooms and streets and people he photographed that I found myself looking at twentieth –century New York in the early morning through his nineteenth-century eyes. Everywhere seemed a stage set. I would awaken early on Sunday mornings and wander through New York with my camera, peering into shop windows and down cul-de-sacs with a bemused Atget looking over my shoulder.” 

This exhibition, titled Empty New York, will be on view until May 31st.