Lot 19: JOHN ALBOK

THE FACE OF MODERNISM: A PRIVATE WEST COAST COLLECTION
New York, Harlem
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on the mount; '1392 Madison Ave., N.Y.' credit stamp on the reverse of the mount.

8 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (21.6 x 19.1 cm)

Gelatin silver print.

1935

Lee Gallery, Winchester
Private Collection, New York

Hungarian-born photographer John Albok moved to the United States in 1921 where he began working as a tailor on the Upper East Side. Photographing the street life in his newfound home city was at first a hobby, but following a win at the New York Herald Tribune weekly photo contest in 1937, Albok turned his interest in the medium into a second career. Just one year later, the Museum of the City of New York held Albok&#8217;s first show, <em>Faces of the City</em>. Over the course of his life, Albok continued to photograph passersby near his shop at 96th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.