Art & Design

Architecture and Design

This small book is a collection of photographs taken by the author of the great range of mosaics and tile work in the stations of the New York subway (the IRT and BMT, actually). From the beavers at Astor Place and the eagles at 33rd Street to the Wilson Avenue station on the L, Stookey describes the evolution of the subway station from 1904 Heins and Lafarge to Squire Vickers and the BMT. Published by and available from the author. Now in its second edition with 43 color plates. Also available from the author are four boxed sets of notecards with different themes: Waterfront, History and Architecture, Subway Ceramic Art, Brooklyn Heights Scenes and Signs, and a set of "women" cards, all from plates available in the book. Each set of 8 cards is $10, the book is $15, plus postage, available from the author.

This is the NY Transit Museum's second major book about the history of the subway (following Evolution of New York City Subways). Amazon.com Writeup: Produced with the New York City Transit Museum, Subway Style documents the aesthetic experience of the system through more than 250 exclusive pictures. The book includes newly commissioned color photographs of historic and contemporary station ornamentation as well as imagery from the Museum's archives. The images span the full century, from the system's inception in the early 1900s up to and including architectural renderings for the still-to-be-built Second Avenue line.

Photography

From its beginnings in the early part of the 20th century, the New York City subway has captured the imaginations of photographers from Walker Evans to Bruce Davidson, and many more. But never has it been so powerfully and lyrically portrayed as in these carefully orchestrated sequences from Christophe Agou, a photographer whose searing images haunt and intrigue us at the same time. Bridging the worlds of documentary and art photography, Life Below is a series of frozen moments, revealing fear, love, affection, stress, and solitude. The compelling photographs are an intimate rendezvous with people in a meditative state: people from all walks of life who have not yet put on a mask. This is at times a dark, but always-sensitive view of a corner of our world. 75 duotone photographs.

Amazon.com writeup: This three-year photographic study of subway passengers made with a hidden camera was first published in 1966. Long out of print, Many Are Called is now being reissued with a new foreword and afterword and with exquisitely reproduced images from newly prepared digital scans. In 1938, Walker Evans began surreptitiously photographing people on the New York City subway. With his camera hidden in his coat - the lens peeking through a buttonhole - he captured the faces of riders hurtling through the dark tunnels, wrapped in their own private thoughts.

New York City's first subway system officiall opened on October 27, 1904, operating along a nine-mile strip. Today, in it's centennial year, the subway stretches for 685 miles and carries well over four million passengers a day. An eclectic mix of New Yorkers from every age and nationality—from commuters and street musicians to evangelists and curious tourists come together each day under New York's streets. Photographer and sociologist, Camilo Vergara captures these chance encuornters in colorful images.

In addition to documenting trains and the diverse riders, Vergara depicts New York cityscapes, as seen from the elevated trains that rumble over bridges and wind their way through neighborhoods in Queens, Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

Amazon.com writeup: In The Subway Pictures, Peter Peter shares his extraordinary images of life on the move, capturing “ordinary” New Yorkers in a remarkable give-and-take with their public surroundings.

Catalog of an exhibition entitled "Walker Evans: Subway Photographs and Other Recent Acquisitions" held at the National Gallery of Art, Nov. 24, 1991-Mar. 1, 1992.

Subway Artworks

Along the Way is a tour through New York's underground museum of contemporary art, works commissioned by MTA Arts for Transit for the subway system. Vivid murals by Roy Lichtenstein and Romare Bearden convey the energy of Times Square while Robert Wilson's Coney Island Baby captures the festive spirit of the city's playland. Currently underway are a photographic installation by Mike and Doug Starn at the new Fulton Street Transit Center and an intricate skylight by James Carpenter at the South Ferry complex.

Initiated in 1985, this collection of site-specific public art now encompasses more than 150 pieces in mosaic, terra-cotta, bronze, faceted glass, and mixed media. The program takes its cue from the original mandate that the subways be "designed, constructed, and maintained with a view to the beauty of their appearance, as well as to their efficiency." Arts for Transit is committed to the preservation and restoration of the original ornament of the system and to commissioning new works that will exemplify the principles of public art, relating directly to the places in which they are installed and the community around them.

Keith Haring's famous "subway poster" drawings reproduced in book format.

Literature

The companion to "100 Poems from the Subways and Buses", this collection of postcards features reproductions of 24 of the most popular Poetry in Motion placards.

This book collects 100 of the poems found on the Poetry in Motion placards in the subways and buses of New York.