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UNION SQUARE Union Square, variant
image In the 1930s, many artists lived on or near Union Square and took as their subject the Square's bustling street scene. Although Abbott's large camera was an awkward tool for capturing the pedestrian rush, this view of the southeast corner of the Square approaches the exuberant spirit of paintings by Reginald Marsh and Isabel Bishop. Union Square, variant
image Standing in front of the S. Klein department store, Abbott made two exposures of East 14th Street between Fourth Avenue and Broadway. Using a shorter lens, she filled the frame with the billboard-topped commercial buildings across the intersection. Backing up and using a longer lens, she retained the tableau of billboards in the background while including in the foreground the newspaper kiosk and subway entrance. In this exposure, Abbott captured the caricatural gestures of a newspaper vendor (left) and a determined shopper (right). Union Square's decline after World War II hit bottom in the 1970s, when its major stores closed and the park was overrun with drug dealers. A park renovation and the establishment of the "Union Square Special Zoning District," which regulates the placement and design of retail signs, has encouraged high-income residential development. The 1987 Zeckendorf Towers, which replaced S. Klein, is a model for new mixed-use development. In 1993, the old commercial buildings in Abbott's photograph were demolished to make way for another such building. Return to the Middle East Side |
