Tyko Kihlstedt

Photo Essays Capturing the Urban Experience

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2012 IN PHOTOGRAPHS

January 7, 2013 Tyko Kihlstedt 9 Comments

After reviewing all of the photographs that I took last year, I selected 125 and share them with you in this posting.  How to order them was a challenge. I photograph what the day and the place offer up; I rarely plan ahead and search for something specific.   Thus, a chronological arrangement was out of the question, and so I clustered them into ten general topics.

Broadly speaking, my photographs document people, places and things.  I use them to supplement my memory, and you might think of them as my personal “cabinet of curiosity.”  Some capture the familiar, but I hope in some unfamiliar way.  Others record new discoveries and encounters.  All hold the potential for enhancing future blog posts, for mounting new photographic exhibitions, or inspiring my attempts at painting.

I hope that a few of these 125 photographic images contain something that appeals to your eye, offers you something new, and maybe even sparks your imagination.

 

Tuli on the Beach, Cape Cod, January 1, 2012
Tyko & Andrea, Lincoln Center to see Warhorse on 45th Anniversary, April1, 2012
“Big Rya” and Andrea, Toasting the end of the year in Watertown, MA
These three are the only ones in chronological order:   the new generation offering a stone to the ocean;   the grandparents on their 45th anniversary (associated with the sapphire)–although no stone passed our hands–just a good time and our adherence to being “true blue,” the sapphire being the stone of loyalty and fidelity;   and, thirdly, the old generation welcoming the year to come.

PEOPLE

Vic on the Horn, King of Mott Haven, Bronx, still doing business at 84
David, 3rd Avenue safe-keeper, Mott Haven, Bronx
David & Vic, at art show, Lehman College, Bronx
Clemetin, lookin’ cool on Exterior Street, Mott Haven, Bronx
Sav Killz, Manhattan, Lafayette Street
Harold, Memphis, TN, Beale Street
Bob M, on pilgrimage to the Metropolitan Museum, Manhattan
Jeff, leaving Gleason’s Gym, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Tony, Surprise 60th birthday gathering, Brooklyn
Judge Zobel Presenting Exhibit A, Dennis, MA
Marcia, midtown Manhattan, anti-fracking demonstration
Shoulder & Pearls
Michiel, “Liam” on Nashville, Nashville, TN, in the make-up trailer
Edward & Lev, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Farmer Jim, Cape Cod, MA
Starbucks Morning, Manhattan, Upper East Side

 

ARCHITECTURE

Trumping AT&T, Mid-town, Manhattan
The Brooklyn Pier, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Cast Iron in Pastel, SoHo, Greene Street, Manhattan
Cass Gilbert, dormer, Hunts Point Avenue Station, 1908, Bronx

 

This needs some explanation.  Gilbert is best known as the architect of the Woolworth Building on Broadway (1913),  but he designed a series of railroad stations for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1908.  This is one of the dormer windows (Gothic Revival in style) of the Mott Haven station: for me a magical discovery, if also sad, as it no longer serves its original purpose and is in poor shape. Open this link if interested.

 
 

Conservatory Reflections 1, Haupt Conservatory, Bronx Botanical Gardens
Chelsea Modern: study in blue, Chelsea Modern condos, Audrey Matlock, 2006-8
6 Windows over Gold, West 57th Street, Chickering Hall, 1924, Cross & Cross
6 Windows on a Plane, West 56th Street, Mid-town Manhattan
Yawning Awning, Casement windows, Bronx Botanical Gardens
Capital Cast, Composite Capital, 41 Union Square West. 1895
Lancets, Central Park, Reservoir (Gothic) Bridge, Calvert Vaux, 1864
St. Cecilia at the Organ, St. Cecilia’s Parish, East Harlem, Manhattan, 1883, Napoleon Le Brun
Sol Rising on 96th, Upper East Side townhouse, East 96th Street, Manhattan

 

This final photograph serves as a reminder for me to research the group of townhouses on East 96th Street, between Park Avenue and Lexington.  Each contains unique exterior details that give this block unusual visual appeal: a possible blog topic this year.

 
 

URBAN DETAILS

Library Walk, Gregg Lefevre, 1998, East 40th Street; Isak Dinesen plaque with quotation: “People work much in order to secure the future; I gave my mind much work and trouble, trying to secure the past.”

 

Library Walk, Gregg Lefevre, 1998, East 40th Street; John Ruskin plaque with quotation: “For all books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour and the books of all time….It is a distinction of species. There are good books for the hour, and good ones for all time; bad books for the hour, and bad ones for all time.”
The walk from Grand Central Station to the New York Public Library ought to be a saunter, but it seldom is for the hurried pedestrians.   These few blocks might easily take 40 minutes, were one to read and consider the selected wisdom of world literature (including art and science).
Urban details may well lie under ones feet, not only at eye level or neck-craning height.  Below are two temporary, eye-level examples to brighten the darkening canyons of mid-town Manhattan in December.

 

Crown Building, 5th Avenue, Christmas decoration
Crown Building, 5th Avenue, Christmas decoration
Owl, Herald Square, Manhattan, Mid-town south
Owls were the symbol of the New York Herald.  Its building (by McKim, Mead and White) had been a block north, and this is one of several owls that once graced its roofline.  Try this link, if curious.

 

Ram and Lily, Bryant Park, Mid-town Manhattan
Que Bonita Bandera, Lexington Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan
Huddling in the Dark, Bronx County Courthouse, Grand Concourse, Bronx
Cheim & Read gallery, West 25th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan, 2001, Richard Gluckman
Woodman’s Gate, Central Park, 5th Avenue at 96th Street,
How fortunate that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux prevailed in the battle of the gates some 160 years ago and gave Central Park open entrances of simple, un-ornamented design; then named them for the common people for whom they meant this park.  Here is one link to start you off.

 
 

Graffiti, East 17th Street, Flatiron District, Manhattan
Graffiti, West 22nd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
Benetton Akroterion,  United Colors of Benetton store, Crosby Street, SoHo, Manhattan
Atlantid, nu New York store, 827 Broadway, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Almighty Tree, East 142nd Street, Mott Haven, Bronx
Plastic Complements, Central Park, fencing material

PLANTS/NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Storm Clouds, Chelsea, Manhattan
Rock, Sunset, Tide Pool, Corporation Beach, Dennis, MA
Ice Glen, Stockbridge, MA, 1891, David Dudley Field
Platanus x acerifolia, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx
Elephant Ears, et. al., Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx
Hendersonii, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx
Nelumbo nucifera, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx

 

Nymphaea, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx

EVENTS/DEMONSTRATIONS

Stars, Anti-War Demonstration, Times Square, Manhattan
Sparring, Gleason’s Gym, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Ginny Myers Lee as “Viola,” Twelfth Night,  William Shakespeare, New York Classical Theater, Battery Park, Lower Manhattan
Bottom Heavy, Marika Hughes with Fred Cash, Kyle Sanna, JT Lewis, at Barbès, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Maritime Rites, The Lake, Central Park, Alvin Curran (composer)
Maritime Rites, The Lake, Central Park, Alvin Curran (composer)
Alvin Curran (center), Maritime Rites, The Lake, Central Park
A mid-June day off Bethesda Terrace in Central Park found a healthy crowd on dry land as musicians from Montclair State and West Point boarded rowboats and performed Alvin Curran’s Maritime Rites.  In this third photograph, Curran–already seated in the bow–wisely omits a bow to the audience at the conclusion of his 50-minute composition.

 
 

Anti-Fracking Demonstration, 53rd Street & 7th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan
Million Hoodie March, Demonstration against murder of Trayvon Martin, Union Square, Manhattan
OWS (Occupy Wall Street), Anniversary gathering, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan:
“The Revolution Is Wheelchair Accessible”
OWS (Occupy Wall Street), Anniversary gathering, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan,
Deby (from Brooklyn): “Last Generation Retiree?”
OWS (Occupy Wall Street), Anniversary gathering, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan:
“Occupy Vision;” “Robber Barons teabagged America”
Anti-Fracking Demonstration, 53rd Street & 7th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan:
Banner hanging from Sheraton Hotel Ballroom: “Cuomo Don’t Frack N. Y.”
Harlem Halloween, Madison & East 117th Street, Manhattan

THE SUBWAY

 

Track Alchemy, 14th Street, Manhattan
Peel, 138th Street/3rd Avenue Station, Bronx
Guitar at Fulton, Fulton Street Station, Manhattan
Leaning In, 23rd Street Station, Lexington Line, Manhattan
Caught Me, Lexington Line, Manhattan
On the 2 Train, Manhattan
Untitled (for the moment), 86th Street Platform, Manhattan
Orchid & Braids, 96th Street Platform, Manhattan
Union Square, Union Square Platform, Lexington Line, Manhattan

 

STREET/SIDEWALK

On the BX2, Bronx
Strand Bookworm, Strand Bookstore, 12th & Broadway, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
A (NY) Dog’s Life, Eleventh Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
SoHo Smoker, West Broadway, SoHo, Manhattan
They Still Have Souls, Lexington & 59th Street, Manhattan
Anything Helps, East 14th Street, Manhattan
As Piercing as Gimlets, East 14th Street, Manhattan
In Search of Poetry,  West 56th Street, Midtown Manhattan

 

ALTERED ENVIRONMENTS/OBJECTS

 

Breakdown, Abandoned storefront, 2nd Street, Memphis, TN
Nosm’s Room, Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx
Left Behind, Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx
A Male Menopause, Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx
Lure of Lost Memory, Historic Cemetery, Foster, Rhode Island
Contrapposto, 18th century gravestone, Old North, Truro, Cape Cod, MA
Natural Abstraction, Lichen and gravestone, Quivet Creek cemetery, Cape Cod, MA

 

ART/ARTISTS

 

Cope2 at Work, Fernando Carlo (Cope2), Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx
Cynthia in Her Studio, Cynthia Packard, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Robert at Work, Robert Seyffert, Bank Note Building, Hunt’s Point, Bronx
Plein Air, High Line, Steve Cosentino, Chelsea, Manhattan
We Can Disappear You, 2001, Leon Golub, Armory Show (Pier 94)
Four of these small but strong grisaille works were displayed by the Ronald Feldman Gallery, and they clearly are meant to evoke Goya’s Disasters of War.

 

Atalanta and Meleager, 1616, Peter Paul Rubens, detail, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Paradise Lost/Regained…,  2012, detail, Linda Cunningham, This Side of Paradise show,  Andrew Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx
Paradise Lost/Regained…,  2012, detail, Linda Cunningham, This Side of Paradise show,  Andrew Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx
Miles Davis, 1999, Niki de Saint Phalle, Park Avenue & 58th Street, Manhattan
#23 Basketball Player, 1999, Niki d Saint Phalle, Park Avenue & 56th Street, Manhattan
Live Better, 2009, Groundswell (Crystal Clarity), Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx
Mural, 2011, Tats Cru, Bella Vista Community Center, Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx
Women’s Wall, 2004, BadAss Women’s Festival, Barretto Street, Hunts Point, Bronx
Know Your Rights, Dasic Fernández, Barretto Street, Hunts Point, Bronx
Female Flava, Sharon de la Cruz, Barretto Street, Hunts Point, bronx
Mural, East 104th Street & Lexington Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan
Pedro Pietri, 2004, James de la Vega, E 104th Street & Lexingtom Avenue, East Harlem , Manhattan
Slaves of the Past & of the Present, 1999, James de la Vega, 124th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan
Remembering Julia, 2006, Manny Vega, 106th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan
Mural, 2001, 117th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan

These murals from the Bronx and from East Harlem are a small sampling of the many that have transformed these areas into a particularly fertile place for outdoor, public art.  These, too, will find their way into future blog posts, once I find the time to research them.Until then, I wish you all a productive and healthy new year.

Filed Under: Art & Photography Tagged With: Architecture, Art, Boxing, Cemetery, Demonstrations, Graffiti, Homeless, Library Walk, Murals, Musicians, Nature, NYC, People, Photography, Subways

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About Tyko Kihlstedt

Academic, Historian, Amateur Photographer: More
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Comments

  1. ckihlstedt says

    January 7, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    Beautiful photos, all of them!

    Reply
  2. scottwagner says

    January 7, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    I especially liked the portraits and the abandoned places. You've a gift for composition- thanks for turning your camera to so many interesting subjects for us! Dragged me there from this California suburb, made me miss your stomping grounds terribly this am.

    Reply
    • Tyko Kihlstedt says

      March 5, 2013 at 10:46 pm

      Thanks, Scott. How's your writing going?

      Reply
  3. Julie says

    January 8, 2013 at 1:18 am

    Beautiful, Tyko! Love the colors, composition and crisp photos. Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family, too!
    Julie

    Reply
    • Tyko Kihlstedt says

      March 5, 2013 at 10:47 pm

      Thank you, Julie. We miss you.

      Reply
  4. scherezade garcia says

    January 9, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    i love it!!! thanks for sharing!!!
    one thousand and One greetings!
    scherezade garcia

    Reply
    • Tyko Kihlstedt says

      March 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm

      Thanks, Scherezade. Do you sign off regularly with 1001 greetings? Clever, and you definitely have earned it.

      Reply
  5. Theresa Magario says

    January 9, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    Thank you for sharing! Reminds me to pick up my camera and give the ol' eye a tune-up.

    Reply
  6. Tyko Kihlstedt says

    March 5, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    You're welcome. Of course, the camera just tunes-up the eye in a different way, and not always the way one wishes.

    Reply

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