HINE, LEWIS W. (1874-1940)
Empire State Building. Silver print, 10x8 inches (25.4x20.3 cm.), with Hine's blind stamp on recto. 1931
Estimate $20,000-30,000

a vintage print that descends directly from hine's family. The Empire State Building was designed by the architectural firm of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, and constructed in less than a year. Hine's Hastings-on-Hudson neighbor, Richard Shreve, personally selected him to chronicle this Depression-era project, which was spearheaded by former New York Governor Al Smith.

By this period in his career Hine had developed a typology known as "Work Portraits," which celebrated the American laborer "in situ." But this assignment was different because it gave Hine an opportunity to implement this point-of-view in a unique and highly dramatic setting. The 56-year-old photographer would swing out in a specially designed basket that hovered a quarter of a mile above Fifth Avenue, from which he photographed ironworkers securing the structure's steel framework. The building officially opened on May 1, 1931. A year later, Hine's picture book men at work was published, which featured his own dynamic design highlighting these remarkable photographs. At 102 stories, the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world until the completion of the first tower of the World Trade Center, in 1972.

A variant of this image is reproduced in america & lewis hine (Aperture, 1977), p. 110.

Sale 1981 - Lot 130

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