Mitchell Funk

Twin Towers , World Trade Center Abstract

1974

Signed, Dated, Numbered 3/15 recto, unframed, printed later, other size available

Since its construction, Mitchell Funk has been chronicling the Twin Towers, of the World Trade Center. More specifically, he has been recording how light affects and transforms the two giant monoliths. Like us all, Mitchell was inspired by the formidable presence of the two buildings. Living in Brooklyn Heights with great views of lower Manhattan gave him a special advantage and opportunity to assemble some of the most iconic Twin Tower images ever taken. To Mitchell Funk, the Twin Towers, of the World Trade Center were the perfect synthesis of commerce and art. Most modern architecture is simply functional. Minoru Yamasaki's Twin Towers were in fact something quite radical. They were a steel and glass expression of Minimalism on the grandest scale in human history. Everything in the towers was stripped down to its essential quality with nothing extraneous added ….. except light. The way the buildings reflected light made them unique and inspired Mitchell to record them in color for 32 years. Although, the exterior was actually made of a very reflective blue/grey stainless steel the warm light of daybreak and sunset could change their color and transform them from buildings into and mystical monumental sculptures. With the help of the sun as a key player, Mitchell’s images of the Twin Towers progress from the mystical to the spiritual as they reflect the sun’s intense golden energy. Under these conditions, one could argue, that the Twin Tower housed the same type of divine energy as the adjacent churches. In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, one could interpret Twin Tower sunset images differently. A sunset can be a symbol for the end of the day or simply The End. The 1969 image “Dead End” is a visual prognostication. The North Tower is under construction in the background and in the foreground, Mitchell has framed it between two street signs that read Dead End. In Mitchell’s Twin Tower photographs, he is not taking a tourist picture that says “here I am on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade...

Pioneering Street Photographer Mitchell Funk exploits an upward angle of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. At the convergence of the two towers, a full moon appears wedged...

The World Trade Centers in its most captured in it's most simplified form. The buildings are reduced to just two columns of glowing gold. Mitchell Funk has been famous for his interp...

Wolff Buchholz Title: New York - World Trade Center Medium: Photograph Year: 1990 Signed, dated and titled by hand Edition: 6 Size: 16.2 × 10.8 inches

Digital Photograph from Film Original ed. 2 of 9 HP Premium Satin Photo Paper with archival inks Born in Japan in 1940 and educated at The Art Center College of Design in California...

One World Trade Center #15 by James Bleecker Contemporary color photograph of New York City's Freedom Tower with sunlight as viewed from the Hu...

Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio. Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right. Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat. Glazing: Optium museum plexi. A graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, Tom Baril spent over fifteen years as Robert Mapplethorpe’s master printer. His subjects include urban architecture, seascapes and meticulously detailed botanical and nature photographs. Baril’s work demonstrates a command of technique that results from his extensive experience as a master printer. Baril developed a unique toning process that enriches the color and opulence of his photographs. Tom Baril is inspired by the nature studies of modernist photographers such as Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Karl Blossfeldt. A similar attentiveness to the clarity of line, form, pattern and texture characterizes Baril’s still lifes. In composing the seascapes, Baril employs the traditional box camera obscura, better known as the pinhole camera...