Skip to main content
  1. Art
  2. The Collection

Rockefeller Center at Night

Paul J. Woolf

Artwork Details

Rockefeller Center at Night
1934
Paul J. Woolf
platinum print on paper
9 1/2 in x 6 3/4 in (24.13 cm x 17.15 cm);19 3/4 in x 14 3/4 in (50.17 cm x 37.47 cm);9 5/8 in x 6 7/8 in (24.45 cm x 17.46 cm);14 in x 11 in (35.56 cm x 27.94 cm)
Gift of The Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation, in memory of Morris D. Baker, a graduate of The University of Michigan School of Architecture, 1952
2000/2.147

On Display

Not currently on display

Tags

Description

Woolf’s studio business included night photography, and here we see a nocturnal view of Rockefeller Center from Fifth Avenue. The lights on the lower buildings in the foreground allow a rapid recession into space with the lighted tower soaring, cropped to accentuate its height.
Carole McNamara, Assistant Director for Collections & Exhibitions
on the occasion of the exhibition New York Observed: The Mythology of the City
(July 13 – September 22, 2003)

Subject Matter:

This is a photograph of Rockefeller Center in 1934. This image was created at night and depicts the bright artificial lighting of modern commercial buildings. The Rockefeller Center's main tower is left of center, with two smaller buildings framing it in the lower half of the frame, their lines converging at the base of the Rockefeller center. The building is cropped at the top of the frame, resulting in a feeling that the building's narrow facade extends into infinity. 

Physical Description:

Elevated view of Rockefeller Center illuminated at night by artificial lights.

Usage Rights:

If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.