Most Art is Saved: Museum employees carry a painting out of The Museum of Modern Art
The New York Times
United States, founded 1851
April 15, 1958
A gelatin-silver photograph showing Museum of Modern Art staff carrying a large painting into the street during a 1958 emergency, made to record the urgent salvage of artworks.
Seen from above, the scene is vivid: ladder trucks and hoses crowd the curb while museum employees, framed by scattered debris, struggle with a dark, angular modern painting as firefighters and onlookers mill nearby.
The photograph documents mid‑20th‑century efforts to protect cultural property and exemplifies how photojournalism made the vulnerability and stewardship of modern art publicly visible, shaping expectations of museums as guardians in crises.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
11 3/4 × 8 1/8" (29.9 × 20.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2062.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
