LaSalle Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Harlem (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveFrom Empire State Building, looking southeast (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive125th Street (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveIn 1945, at the age of 40, Todd Webb was discharged from his position in the Navy and decided to move to New York City.
125th Street, Harlem (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive3rd Avenue El looking south from Fulton Street Station (1948)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveEast 7th Street (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveHe had become seriously interested in photography in the year 1942 after he took a class with Ansel Adams and met Alfred Stieglitz who encouraged Todd to devote his energies to photographing New York as it underwent a post-war boom.
Fulton Fish Market wharf (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveWatching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveTenements and Graveyard from Chatham Square El Station (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveWhile spending his nights sleeping in photographer Harry Callahan’s kitchen, he spent his day running around the city trying to capture the architecture and street life of the Big Apple.
125th Street, Harlem. Whisk broom salesman (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveThe Battery (1945)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive3rd Avenue from 42nd Street El Station (1945)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveHe spent a lot of his time meeting other like-minded photographers and artists who had made the city their home, such as Lisette Model, Georgia O’Keefe, Gordon Parks, and Berenice Abbott.
Maise, Queen of the Bowery (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive125th Street and Broadway, Harlem (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive104th Street (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveHis first New York exhibition, entitled ‘I See a City’ was held at the Museum of the City of New York in 1946.
Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets 1/4 (1948)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveSixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets 2/4 (1948)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveSixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets 3/4 (1948)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveYou can see some of Webb’s most notable images back on display at MCNY until September 4th 2017 in a new exhibition entitled ‘A City Seen: Todd Webb’s Postwar New York 1945-1960.’
Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets 4/4 (1948)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveSuffolk and Hester Streets (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveThird Avenue and Bowery (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive"Life goes on about me, and I am a living breathing part of it. I feel things, the people, the buildings, the streets, and I have something to say about them and my medium is photography."
Todd Webb, August 5, 1946
Times Square sign painter (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveGreenwich Village (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveNear Fulton Fish Market (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveT'hey stood in a row and I asked them to just stand as though they were talking. The boy who seemed to be the leader said with an eastside accent, ‘Oh, you mean nonchalant. OK guys, get nonchalant.’ It sounded funnier than it reads".
Todd Webb, April 20, 1946
Mott Street (1948)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveThird Avenue (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveOrchard Street (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive"New York is now home to me. I can’t imagine living anyplace else".
Todd Webb, December 28, 1946
Amsterdam Avenue near 125th Street (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb ArchiveNew York Stock Exchange from Old Treasury Building (1959)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive37th Street (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive"This time I have been able to give myself in New York has been wonderful — I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, and I have no regrets at having depleted my savings. I feel like I needed a year to start what is really a new life…."
Todd Webb, April 3, 1946
Sixth Avenue (1946)
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
Source: Museum of the City of New York/Todd Webb Archive
