New York City is a giant ball of energy that cannot be summed up in a few words. The streets hum with the eventual white noise that becomes that backdrop to the metropolis. It is the big city of big cities. Inspiration and aspiration become a two-headed mystical creature, fuelling people’s everyday grind.
The Metropolitan Museum’s permanent collection never ceases to amaze me. The standout exhibition, in my humble opinion is Hipsters, Hustlers and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein’s New York Photographs 1950-1980. I have never heard of the photographer nor of his work. However, upon entering the modest white room in the modern art wing of the expansive museum, it is clear that his work carries the grandiosity that would shame the biggest of installations.
I tried looking for more information on the man and found that there is very little known about the photographer. He lived a very quiet and solitary life, continuously occupied with his work. He refused any prizes or any recognition from his contemporaries, a move so bizarre given the rise of commercial photography and the luxurious life that his fellow photographers led at the time. Here I leave his work to speak for itself, as he has during his lifetime.
