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While assisting Diego Rivera with his ill-fated Man at the Crossroads (1933) mural at the newly built Rockefeller Center, Shahn became familiar with midtown Manhattan, an area known for its large shopping, garment, and theater districts. The Depression notwithstanding, the midtown region had been undergoing intense building activity, including some of Manhattan’s greatest skyscrapers: Radio City Music Hall, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building. When Shahn photographed in the vicinity, however, he ignored such monumental structures, just as he relegated to the background the restaurants, theaters, hotels, and flashing lights synonymous with the Times Square district. He focused instead on crowds underneath the Sixth Avenue Elevated or individuals standing before empty storefronts. Through Shahn’s camera, midtown Manhattan consisted of ordinary New Yorkers: panhandlers, street performers, and men seeking work. Untitled (Sixth Avenue, New York City), 1932-35 Fogg Art Museum, Gift of Bernarda Bryson Shahn
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