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Elena Vaninetti

Rudy Burckhardt. Times Square, ca. 1938.

In this early image, Rudy Burckhardt captures the electric heart of New York at the dawn of modernity. Shot around 1938, Times Square appears as a theater of light, smoke and human motion, where pedestrians cross under the rain and the city itself seems to breathe in neon rhythm.

'Image Copyright Rudy Burckhardt' at the bottom. Total dimensions: 35,5 x 27,5 cm on semi-gloss paper. Fine condition. Printed later.

Born in Switzerland, Burckhardt arrived in New York in 1935 and soon joined the city’s avant-garde circle with Joseph Cornell, Willem de Kooning, and Edwin Denby. His work merges documentary precision with lyrical sensitivity, transforming everyday life into an urban choreography.

In Times Square, the composition recalls the dynamism of Andreas Feininger and Berenice Abbott, yet its melancholy tone and chiaroscuro depth evoke Brassaï and André Kertész. Human presence becomes fleeting — a note in a score of lights — while cars and billboards compose a vibrant portrait of a metropolis awakening to modern vision.

His photographs are held in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum, which recognize him as a key figure in defining New York’s modern visual mythology alongside Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz, and Margaret Bourke-White.

A cornerstone piece for collectors of historical and urban photography — Burckhardt transforms the city’s chaos into visual harmony, foreshadowing the film-noir aesthetics and modern narrative of the twentieth century.

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Rudy Burckhardt - Times Square, ca. 1938

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Slim Aarons (1916–2006)

Tessa Posthuma de Boer

Elena Paraskeva

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Viet Ha Tran

Ben Dauchez

Frank Machalowski

Alberto Korda (1928–2001)

Bert Stern (1929–2013)

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Fabian Kimmel

Maurizio Galimberti (1956–)

Stefanie Schneider

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Marcus Cederberg

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Rudy Burckhardt - Times Square, ca. 1938

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