Unforgotten New York

Legendary Spaces of the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde

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Captivating photographs from the present and the past take readers on a tour through New York City’s most influential cultural spaces–reminding us of what made them legendary, and revealing what has replaced them.

Unforgotten New York: Legendary Spaces of the Twentieth Century Avant-Garde investigates the legacy of legendary New York haunts that are no more, recalling their glory days and the influential figures of the creative world who were once regular visitors. The book is a collaborative project by David Brun-Lambert (writer), John Short (photographer), David Tanguy (co-author and designer), and begins with a foreword by Lawrence Weiner.

The authors explore the present-day identities of the art spaces, clubs, underground hangouts, and performance venues of the 1950s to 80s in New York. The authors discovered discovered that many legendary art spaces are still active, albeit changed. St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery for example continues to host theater, dance, and music decades after Patti Smith launched her rock career there in 1971.

Each place is forensically photographed as it is now, without any people in frame. The authors don’t delve very deeply into the present, or consider that the arts today might revolve more around collectives and experiences rather than spaces.

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Unforgotten New York: Legendary Spaces of the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde is available from Prestel.