New York 1960: Madison

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Monday, June 1, 2015

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

945 Madison Avenue

Mission Statement

NEW YORK 1960 is a window into the architecture and urban landscape of New York City from the end of WWII to the Bicentennial as seen through "chrome" postcards from the period. These mid-century cards were printed using a new "chromolithic" process, yielding bright, saturated colors more like a color photograph than any previous postcard printing process. The images and their descriptions provide the contemporary viewer an opportunity to understand how the city saw itself during a time of sweeping changes ushered in by post-war prosperity. They also depict how corporations and cultural institutions embraced and distilled the Modernist aesthetic. Corporations used it in the design of skyscrapers to project an image of power and progress. Cultural institutions employed it to appeal to a younger or progressive demographic. Many buildings have become icons of the era for better or worse.