Wall Street, New York
1915, printed 1976–1977

Paul Strand took this photograph from the steps of the New York Federal Hall during morning rush hour. The recently completed building of white marble at 23 Wall Street (on the southeast corner of Wall and Broad Streets) was located in one of the most expensive areas of real estate in New York City. A symbol of financial power, it was the new headquarters of J.P. Morgan and Company. The photograph grew out of what the artist described as an attempt to capture a “kind of movement” that was at once “abstract and controlled.” The long horizontal shadows of the figures counterpose the yawning dark verticals of the Morgan Bank’s windows, and the dynamism of their movement plays off of the building’s solidity. While this image evokes the tenor of urban existence in early twentieth century America, it is just as important for its abstract formal patterns and structures, which Strand believed were uncovered by the camera’s objectivity.