New York in the Fifties

William C. McNulty's New York in the Fifties offers a dramatic vista of midtown Manhattan glimpsed through a canyon-like space between two shadow-darkened building towers, modern skyscrapers that dwarf older low-rise buildings. This partial view of the street blocks in the Fifties includes, in the background, several not-yet-completed buildings comprising Rockefeller Center, a complex of commercial mid- and high-rise structures. According to an inscription on the back of the print, McNulty took this view from an upper-story south-facing window in the Barbizon Plaza Hotel (now a condominium building), located on Central Park South near Avenue of the Americas; the 42-story luxury hotel opened in 1930. McNulty made the most of the delicate lines of the drypoint etching medium to precisely detail the many buildings in view. At the same time, however, he distorted perspective to show the skyscrapers tilting at precarious angles to accentuate their dramatic heights and the plunging void of space below, in a manner similar to Samuel L. Margolies's lithograph view of Manhattan's midtown skyscrapers entitled Man's Canyons (TF 1996.41).

McNulty's command of architectural detail, scale, and perspective in New York in the Fifties reflects training gleaned from his early employment in an architect's office. Although he later worked in newspaper illustration and painting, McNulty was best known for his architectural prints. He specialized in New York City views at a time when the astounding development of the city drew numerous printmakers. During the 1920s and early 1930s, the urban topography of New York City between Twenty-third and Fifty-ninth Streets, in particular, changed dramatically with the construction of many new high-rise buildings.

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

Paris-New York, aller-retour. Une Modernité américaine en formation, 1875–1940. Oeuvres des collections de la Terra Foundation for the Arts et des Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (Paris-New York, Roundtrip. American Modernism in the Making, 1875–1940. Works from the Terra Foundation for the Arts and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002. [exh. cat.]

America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK (organizers.) Venue: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK, March 23, 2018–July 22, 2018 [exh. cat.]

 In the Streets: Modern Life and Urban Experiences in the Art of the United States, 1893-1976 (Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893–1976). Terra Foundation for American Art and Pinacoteca de São Paulo (organizers). Venue: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 2022–January 30, 2023. [exh. cat.]

 

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Lauren Kroiz, and Leo G. Mazow. America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper. Oxford, United Kingdom: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology–University of Oxford, 2018. Text p. 88, cat. no. 51 (checklist); Ill. pp. 89, 147 (color).

 Piccoli, Valéria, Fernanda Pitta, and Taylor Poulin. Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893-1976. (exh. cat., Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo and Terra Foundation for American Art). São Paulo, Brazil: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2022. Pl. p. 42 (color).