Description:
night image of lit skyscrapers with superimposed image of tree branches shaped into a skeleton standing figure
Label Text:
Born in Germany, Josef Breitenbach was a self-taught photographer who established himself as a portraitist in Munich. After fleeing Germany for Paris in 1933, he escaped Nazi internment there and immigrated to the United States in 1942, settling, as many émigré artists did, in New York City. He supported himself with portraiture and commercial work, experimenting with various printing techniques, many of which he used to give his images a surrealistic bent. In We New Yorkers Breitenbach superimposes a flayed figure, with its blood vessels and nervous system exposed, on a night-time view of the city's skyscrapers. The imagery, coupled with the title, suggests a synergy between New York and its inhabitants, a connection that is symbiotic and slightly sinister.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2003.31.3 |
