The Big Apple in glorious black and white: Stunning images cast spotlight on New York City in 1940s

Amazing photo collection released for new exhibit on documentary photography at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan

'The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951' captures daily life of adults and children in New York City

Children are seen playing, sailors walking through Times Square and lightning flying across the Empire State Building




One shows a group of children innocently playing chalk games in the street, one sees lightning fly across the sky above the recently-built Empire State Building and in another a shoemaker is smiling while eating his packed lunch.

Huge numbers of sheets and other laundry items are seen criss-crossing the gap between tenements, two men are photographed sitting by a relief in the Union Square park and the Brooklyn Bridge can be seen with a grey sky overhead.

These compelling portraits of everyday life between 1936 and 1951 drawn from the streets of New York City have been newly-released as part of an exhibit opening on Friday at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan.

Chalk one up: Arthur Leipzig's 'Chalk Games' captures several children in their element in 1950 in Prospect Place, Brooklyn

Life: 'The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951' shows 'Boy jumping into Hudson River' from 1948, left, and an untitled gelatin silver print from 1950, right



Iconic: Compelling portraits of everyday life, like this image of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1938, form the heart of a new exhibit at The Jewish Museum

Striking image: Lightning flies across the sky above the Empire State Building in 1945, while an American flag at street level flaps in the storm Serving up a treat: This Italian restaurant - in 1945 - was near the offices of Acme Newspictures, where photographer Ida Wyman became their first female photo printer A boy can be seen jumping from a tall building into the water below on what looks like a hot summer’s day, young men and women are photographed enjoying themselves at Coney Island beach in Brooklyn and sailors are captured walking across Times Square. The exhibition, called 'The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951', recognises the role that an organisation of young, idealistic snappers played in seeing documentary photography as both an art form and a way to argue for social justice. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Ghost of the Dambusters dog: Picture 'shows long-dead... Share this article Share The photographers captured public and private moments, such as tenement balconies full of people angling for a good view of a passing parade, a woman gazing at a Bleecker Street bakery window and swing dancers in Harlem. 'The documentary photograph changed as a result of the really great teaching that distinguished the League in the form of (photographer) Sid Grossman,' said Jewish Museum curator Mason Klein. Street scene: This photo, left, shows two women on Easter Sunday in 1944, and another is of a shoeshine boy speaking to a police officer on 14th Street in 1947, right



Gathering: This shot, entitled 'Coney Island' from 1947, is part of the compelling portraits of everyday life drawn from the streets of New York City Slums: This photo from 1947 in the Lower East Side shows an advert for the film Gentleman's Agreement, which addressed the persistence of anti-Semitism in the U.S. Portraits: This grumpy-looking man on the left was pictured in 1940 in Lower East Side, and a young girl is pictured on the right in 1950 in 'Girl Along A Parade Sideline'



Shore leave: Sailors wander across Times Square in a photograph taken from the Astor Hotel in 1950 ‘(He) pushed his students to discover the meaning of their work, but also their relationship to it. That helped their work become more subjective and more poetic.' '(Photographer) Sid Grossman pushed his students to discover the meaning of their work, but also their relationship to it. That helped their work become more subjective and more poetic' Jewish Museum curator Mason Klein Some images are beautiful and some are stark, with many commenting subtly on class, race and disparities of opportunity. The League's darkroom, exhibition space, and its acclaimed newsletter 'Photo Notes' all drew photographers together in a space where they could socialise and exchange ideas. Women actively participated in the League where they found rare access and recognition. 'We were interested in the synergy of the League, that critical mass of artistry that resulted from the Photo League's panoply of activities,’ said Catherine Evans of the Columbus Museum of Art, which collaborated with The Jewish Museum on the exhibit.

Happy Halloween: A child surrounded by her friends ties on a mask to celebrate the October festival on South Side in 1951 Good luck: This photo by Aaron Siskind shows 'The Wishing Tree' in 1937, which was once a tall elm that stood outside a theatre at 132 Street and Seventh Avenue Archive: This photo from 1940, entitled 'Salvation Army Lassie in Front of a Woolworth Store', is one of many on show at the exhibit which opens on Friday

Incredible cityscape: This photograph, entitled Broken Window on South Street, from 1948, shows New York's skyscrapers from the perspective of a shabby area

Political protest: Concerned New Yorkers protest against slums at the city's May Day Parade in 1936 Photographers Lewis Hine, Berenice Abbott and Paul Strand were mentors to the league while the younger generation included Mr Grossman, Morris Engel, Arthur Leipzig, Lisette Model, Ruth Sorkin, Walter Rosenblum, Aaron Siskind, W. Eugene Smith and many others. The decade and a half of The Photo League's existence spanned the Great Depression, The New Deal, World War Two and, finally, the 'Red Scare' hunt for domestic Communists to which the League fell victim. A December 5, 1947 front-page story in The New York Times: '90 Groups, Schools Named on U.S. List as Being Disloyal' proved the beginning of the end for the New York Photo League. The League categorically denied the accusation in press releases, meetings, petitions, letters, articles, and even an exhibition - and for a while, the disclaimers worked, writes Houston photography curator Anne Wilkes Tucker in an essay in the exhibition's catalogue. But as the blacklisting grew in intensity and reach, membership declined. The League dissolved on October 30, 1951. Trader: This Harlem merchant is seen in New York in 1937, in a photo taken by Morris Engel, who was born in Manhattan 19 years earlier and only died in 2005 Welcome break: A shoemaker enjoys his packed lunch in 1944, left, while a trader named Max brings in the bagels to a Second Avenue restaurant one morning in 1940

Wash day: Huge numbers of sheets and other laundry items criss-cross the gap between tenements in New York in 1937 Dancing school: This image shows a group of girls at a dancing school in Harlem in 1938, which was opened by Mary Bruce, who taught ballet and tap for 50 years 'Fear killed The Photo League,' said Howard Greenberg, owner of a gallery bearing his name and an early collector and dealer of Photo League work. The blacklisting affected The Photo League even after it was disbanded. 'At least partly because of the suppression after the blacklisting, the significant role the League - and its teacher Sid Grossman - played in the evolution of the documentary photograph has not been fully recognized,' Mr Klein said. 'The subsequent generation of photographers was sort of apolitical. They were turned off to that idea of the documentary photograph as a political statement. And they were validated by the art world.' The exhibit runs until March 25 next year and will then will travel to other U.S. cities.