Jacob A Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half
at the Museum of the City of New York
Jacob A. Riis courtesy MCNY, Gift of Roger William Riis
City Museum Offers Comprehensive Exploration
of the Life and Work of Photographer Jacob A. Riis
New York’s Master of Social Activism
Wednesday, October 14 – Sunday, March 20, 2016
New York, NY (September 22, 2015): The Museum of the City of New York presents Jacob A. Riis:
Revealing New York’s Other Half, a one-of-a-kind retrospective of this pioneering photojournalist and
social reformer. Riis was the first to use flash photography, a nascent technology, for a social purpose –to
expose New York’s middle and upper classes to the squalid living conditions of the poor and to galvanize
action on their behalf. His 1890 book, How the Other Half Lives: The Tenements of New York, his
articles as a reporter, his slum tours, and his lectures here and throughout the country prompted fellow
reformer Theodore Roosevelt to call Riis “New York’s most useful citizen.”
Riis came to New York City in 1873 as an educated, middle class Dane, and he experienced poverty
firsthand. Hired as a police reporter in 1877 for the New York Tribune, he documented life in the
tenements, writing about disease and crime. Riis used his journalism to advocate for better housing, for
reforms in child labor that he witnessed in the tenements, and for better education. He delivered a strong
social message, and the city and the nation responded.
Revealing New York’s Other Half is the first major retrospective of Riis’ photography in the United
States in well over 50 years. Visitors to the exhibition will experience a recreation of Riis’ famous and
innovative lantern slide lecture, “How The Other Half Lives,” which will provide the potent experience
of viewing the photographs as contemporary audiences once did. It unites for the first time the City
Museum’s Jacob A. Riis Collection of Photographs – the world’s largest archive of Riis’ images – with
the Jacob A. Riis Papers from the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library for a first ever
array of photographs, archival materials, video and Riis’ personal correspondence.
“With this exhibition we seek to define Jacob Riis and illustrate why his life and work resonated so
deeply across the five boroughs and the entire country,” said Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel
Director of the Museum of the City of New York. “One hundred years after his death, inequality remains
an essential aspect of American life, and the story of Jacob Riis needs to be remembered. The City
Museum is proud to illuminate his works and the man behind them once more.”
Curated by Bonnie Yochelson, art historian and former Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum
of the City of New York, Revealing New York’s Other Half is divided into six sections that focus on
various aspects of Riis’ life, work and legacy .
“Jacob Riis had a tremendous impact on society, photography and the history of New York City,” said
Yochelson. “His work deserves to be revisited for its combination of historical importance and ongoing
relevance today. As our city and our nation continue to struggle with inequality and its effects, this
exhibition enables visitors to understand the story of the man who first illustrated life in New York City
slums in the 19th century, providing a unique lens for viewing a present day issue.”
Riis’ photos made such an impact because they never failed to deeply shock his audience and demand
their attention; the exhibition seeks to offer a similar experience, as his photos have lost none of their
dramatic effect.
Revealing New York’s Other Half features over 125 objects including Riis’ personal papers, his many
books, selections from his newspaper and magazine writing, handwritten manuscripts, and photography
equipment, along with photographs taken and collected by Riis himself. In addition, 50 Riis photographic
images will be on display, including vintage photographic prints, lantern slides, glass negatives,
stereographs and more. Significant items on display include correspondence with Riis’ close friend
Theodore Roosevelt on White House stationery, fundraising correspondence with Louise and Andrew
Carnegie, and a Riis letter to humanitarian and author Lillian Wald.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a complete catalog of Riis’ photographs, the first of its kind, also
entitled Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half. Co-published by Yale University Press, the
City Museum, and the Library of Congress, this major research endeavor complements the contents of
the exhibition, with detailed entries on every photograph Riis produced or commissioned.
Revealing New York’s Other Half will travel to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and
Denmark, where it will be featured at museums in Copenhagen and Ribe.
The exhibition co-chairs are C. Flemming Heilmann, Chairman Emeritus of the Jacob A. Riis
Neighborhood Settlement, and Ronay Menschel, Vice Chairman of the Museum of the City of New
York.
The exhibition is supported by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the
Terra Foundation for American Art. The book that accompanies the exhibition is supported by the Phillip
and Edith Leonian Foundation. Support for the exhibition’s related Education and Public Programs is
provided by the Consulate General of Denmark.
About the Museum of the City of New York
Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum of the City of New York celebrates and
interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity,
opportunity, and perpetual transformation. The Museum connects the past, present, and future of New
York City, and serves the people of the city as well as visitors from around the world through
exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections. Visit www.mcny.org to learn
more.
Media Contacts
Jacob Tugendrajch
Brittnie Bordonaro
[email protected]
(917) 492-3480 | [email protected]
(646) 490-6446 |