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Celebrating Francis V. O'Connor
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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Rockefeller Center: Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Foreground, Manhattan

In the mid-1930s, Berenice Abbott embarked on an ambitious project: photographing New York City. She was especially interested in the contrasts between buildings constructed at different times in dramatically different architectural styles. In this photograph, St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church appears in the foreground. It was completed in 1872, in a style resembling the Gothic cathedrals of medieval Europe. The tower in the background is the central pillar of Rockefeller Center, newly constructed in the sleek modernist style.

ArtistBerenice Abbott(1898-1991)
Dateca. 1938
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensions9 5/8 x 7 9/16 in. (24.4 x 19.2 cm)
Mark(s)verso, c., stamped in red ink: FEDERAL ART PROJECT / "Changing New York" / PHOTOGRAPHS BY BERENICE ABBOTT verso, c., stamped in red ink with inscriptions in pencil: Title: Rockefeller Center: Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in foreground / Place: 5th Avenue at 48th Street / Neg. # 189 / Code: IA-3 / Date: December 8, 1936 verso, l.c., label: Half finished skyscraper in background is newest unit of Rockefeller Center, that between 48th and 49th Streets, in which Museum of Modern Art is located, among others.
Inscription(s)verso, u.l.: 70 verso, c.l.: 105
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Bequest of Dr. Francis V. O’Connor, 2020.100
ClassificationPhotograph
ProvenanceFrancis V. O’Connor [1937-2017], New York, NY; by bequest to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2020
On ViewYes
Rockefeller Center: …9.6 × 7.6 in.Tennis Ball2.7 in. diameter

This artwork's face covers about 10.0× the area of a tennis ball.Drawn to the same scale.

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