Coney Island
1947–1948
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to image): 22.7 x 19 cm (8 15/16 x 7 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Patrons' Permanent Fund
Accession Number
2001.67.88
Art Historical Context
**Coney Island**, a captivating gelatin silver print by Sid Grossman from 1947–1948, invites visitors to relive the bustling energy of New York's iconic seaside playground. Captured in the years immediately following World War II, this photograph reflects the era's postwar optimism and the everyday joys of urban escape. Coney Island, with its roller coasters, hot dogs, and throngs of sun-seekers, symbolized affordable leisure for working-class families, making Grossman's image a vivid snapshot of mid-20th-century American life. Grossman, a pioneering documentary photographer associated with N...