Overview: 66 photographs and 7 books created by photographers working in New York City in the years between the publication of Walker Evans' American Photographs in 1938 and Robert Frank's The Americans in 1958 were selected for this exhibition. Photographs on view were drawn primarily from the collection of the National Gallery of Art, with books selected from the National Gallery of Art Library. Subway portraits by Walker Evans, studies of children by Helen Levitt, and views of New York bars and nightclubs by Lisette Model, as well as views of the urban landscape by Louis Faurer, Ted Croner, Roy DeCarava, and others, were included.

The film series, Noir on New York Streets, was presented in conjunction with the exhibition.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Exhibition curators were Sarah Greenough, curator and head of the department of photographs, and Diane Waggoner, assistant curator, department of photographs.

Sponsor: The exhibition was supported by the Trellis Fund and The Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation.