Coney Island

Image Not Available
Copied Sid Grossman, Coney Island, 1947-1948, gelatin silver print, sheet: 8 x 9 78 in. (20.325.1 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum Purchase, 1991.59.1, ©Miriam Grossman Cohen, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Artwork Details

Title
Coney Island
Artist
Date
1947-1948
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 8 x 9 78 in. (20.325.1 cm.)
Copyright
©Miriam Grossman Cohen, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — New York
  • Recreation — sport and play
  • Figure female
  • Landscape — New York — Coney Island
Object Number
1991.59.1

Artwork Description

Sid Grossman was best known as an outspoken founder of the New York Photo League, where he taught courses in documentary photography. Fiercely committed to social causes, he believed that photography should be a moral force in society. Grossman broke away from the documentary traditions while stationed in Panama during World War II, when he experimented with the effects of blur and graininess on the emotional impact of an image. From then on, Grossman used these techniques to convey immediacy and movement.


A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2013