Scenes of New York City
celebrates the promised gift of 130 works from the Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld Collection to the New York Historical Society. The Hirschfeld promised gift is at once a collection of individual works by talented artists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a series of vivid "snapshots" of the iconic city, and a tapestry weaving a narrative of Gotham's vibrant history. These fascinating celebrations of New York City—paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints, and sculpture whose strength lies in the twentieth century—include 113 works by 82 American and European artists not currently represented in the collection. They expand the Museum’s holdings in the modern era and help to diversify them, adding numerous works by pivotal artists including Isabel Bishop, Marc Chagall, George Grosz, Keith Haring, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Fernand Léger, Louise Nevelson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol, among many others. The catalogue features an introductory essay covering the sweeping history of New York City, an interview with the collector Elie Hirschfeld, 110 scholarly entries about the 130 works, and comparative material that illuminates the history of the City and the artistic contributions in the works of art.