Untitled, Subway, New York
Bruce Davidson
American, born 1933
1980
A dye-transfer photograph of a subway rider in which the photographer aims to make the everyday presence and dignity of a New York commuter vividly visible.
What strikes you is the tight, face-forward framing and saturated hues—the red jacket and blue hat set against a graffiti-streaked metal wall—while the subject’s shadowed features and a scar give the portrait an intimate, solemn intensity.
Part of Davidson’s Subway work, this image helped push documentary photography toward color, close-up portraiture that humanized urban strangers and showed how rich dye-transfer printing could deepen emotional nuance.
Medium
Dye transfer print, printed 2006
Dimensions
14 11/16 × 22 1/4" (37.3 × 56.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Susan Steinhauser and Dan Greenberg
Accession
1355.2016.21
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
