Staten Island Ferry
1946, printed 1981
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 21 x 20.7 cm (8 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Joshua P. Smith Collection
Accession Number
2001.128.25
Art Historical Context
Louis Faurer's *Staten Island Ferry (1946, printed 1981) captures the gritty poetry of postwar New York City through the lens of an iconic waterway commute. Shot just after World War II, the gelatin silver print evokes the bustling energy of urban life, where ferries like this one ferried workers, immigrants, and dreamers between Manhattan and Staten Island. Faurer, a pioneering street photographer aligned with the New York School transformed everyday scenes into intimate, emotionally charged vignettes, blending documentary realism with subtle surrealism. The medium—a gelatin silver print—hig...