PHOTOGRAPHY: Reflections of New York’s Luckiest

NYTIMES.COM: In his 1949 essay “Here Is New York,” an ode firmly grounded in the city’s varied lore, E. B. White concluded the first paragraph, “No one should come to New York unless they are willing to be lucky.” Taking inspiration from that canny insight, two curators at the Museum of the City of New York have served up a copious slice of New York’s cultural life in the mid-20th century. (Photo: Stanley Kubrick was a Look magazine photographer when he caught himself in the mirror of Rosemary Williams, a showgirl, in 1949.)

Read the full article in The New York Times here.

Willing to Be Lucky: Ambitious New Yorkers in the Pages of LOOK Magazine

Oct 21 through Jan 3

Willing to Be Lucky is drawn from the Museum’s collection of photographs from LOOK, one of the 20th century’s most influential pictorial magazines. Featuring more than 100 images from the 1940s and ‘50s, the exhibition focuses on individuals—both celebrities and ordinary people—who, in pursuing their dreams, were just offbeat enough, with a little luck, to land them in the pages of LOOK. Themes include dancers, boxers, showgirls, artists, and overnight sensations, and the early photography work of Stanley Kubrick is prominently featured. The title is drawn from E. B. White’s celebrated 1949 essay "Here Is New York," in which he asserted, "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky."

Willing to Be Lucky is made possible by the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation and the Ferris Foundation. Additional support is provided by Crane & Co. Museo Fine Art Papers.

Press release available here.