Kite Flying on Rooftop

Hiram Maristany, Kite Flying on Rooftop, 1964, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.5, © 1964, Hiram Maristany
Copied Hiram Maristany, Kite Flying on Rooftop, 1964, gelatin silver print, image: 13 × 17 5⁄8 in. (33.0 × 44.8 cm) sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.30.5, © 1964, Hiram Maristany

Artwork Details

Title
Kite Flying on Rooftop
Artist
Date
1964
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 13 × 17 5⁄8 in. (33.0 × 44.8 cm) sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Copyright
© 1964, Hiram Maristany
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape
  • Architecture — commercial — skyscraper
  • Recreation — sport and play — kite flying
  • Figure male — child — full length
  • Object — toy — kite
Object Number
2016.30.5
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.30.5

Artwork Description

The rooftops of tenement buildings, often called tar beaches or playas negras, were community gathering spaces from which Maristany took many photographs. He was drawn to scenes that evoked Puerto Rican cultural traditions recreated in New York. Here he focuses on a young man flying a kite against the El Barrio skyline. While not unique to Puerto Ricans, kite making and flying was a competitive pastime that was passed on from generation to generation.

Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography, 2017
Description in Spanish

Las azoteas de los edificios de apartamentos, llamados con frecuencia playas negras, eran espacios de reunión de la comunidad, desde donde Maristany tomó muchas fotografías. Se interesaba por las escenas que evocaban las tradiciones culturales de Puerto Rico y eran recreadas en Nueva York. Aquí, enfoca la cámara hacia un joven que vuela una chiringa y tiene como telón de fondo el horizonte de El Barrio. Aunque no es único de los puertorriqueños, la fabricación de chiringas para luego volarlas era un pasatiempo competitivo que pasaba de una generación a otra.

Por estas calles bravas: Comunidad y lugar en la fotografía urbana, 2017

Exhibitions

Photograph of children playing in the water from a fire hydrant by Hiram Maristany
Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography
May 11, 2017–August 5, 2017
Smithsonian American Art Museum
America’s urban streets have long inspired documentary photographers. After World War II, populations shifted from the city to the suburbs and newly built highways cut through thriving neighborhoods, leaving isolated pockets within major urban centers.