New York at Night

Art Historical Context

**New York at Night** (1914) is a captivating print by Paul Burty Haviland (1880–1950), a French-American artist closely associated with the early 20th-century photographic avant-garde. Captured during a transformative era for New York City, this cityscape print reflects the pulsating energy of the metropolis just before World War I, when skyscrapers were reshaping the skyline and electric lights were turning nights into spectacles of modernity. Haviland's work, housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and credited to the National Portrait Gallery, blends urban portraiture with atmospheric allure. The "portrait" tag intriguingly suggests the city itself as a living subject, rendered through the print medium—a technique that allowed for rich tonal depth and subtle gradations, evoking the era's fascination with photography as fine art. As part of the Smithsonian Collection, it showcases how artists like Haviland documented America's industrial boom. This piece invites visitors to imagine strolling Manhattan's glowing streets in 1914, a snapshot of progress and possibility that continues to resonate in our fast-paced world.