House of a Thousand Windows

One of photography's greatest prodigies, Alvin Coburn first received critical praise at the age of 18. In 1912, he produced the most remarkable artistic photographs of the era by capturing the dizzying view from the tops of New York's tallest buildings. This bold image plays the flatness of simple geometric forms-the rectangular and triangular shapes of the foreground building and tenement block-against the spatial recession of the urban grid. The result is an eerie sense of vitality: the real subject of this image is the energy of the modern age. This is the only known exhibition print of this influential work.