Any guesses on the age of this NYC photo?

Don't you think what can be seen in your photo is the same church as the one in the link I sent, Holy Cross?

 

What, me rethink things? Story of my life... lots of think, lots less action!

The reason I was trying to identify the decade is 'cause of eBay's stupid demarcation between before and after 1940.

Agreed about identifying the photographer... I'll have to do more sleuthing.

 

Holy Cross Church.

 

Oops, I hadn't looked at the link yet. Thanks for identifying it!

 

Excellent... thanks!

 

I'd assume someone would be interested but cropping affects value and fact that, although period photograph, photographer unknown. Lots of well known artists photographed the building including Bernice Abbott and Paul J. Wolff. Yours was obviously shot by someone with comparable talent.

Debora

 

Was the last photo available at a larger size? Did it give a date?

 

Debora, I am curious as to what you are seeing that makes you think this is a duotone reproduction, as opposed to an actual b&w photo.

A duotone would be a halftone process (using 2 colors). If so, a pattern of dots would be visible under magnification. @Pat P , do you have a magnifying glass?

 

https://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/paul-j-woolf/mcgraw-hill-building-at-dusk-8

Debora

 

No idea what it is. On my monitor, reads with a green cast and not as a b&w image. Others may see differently.

Debora

 

Actually, I think it is a quite beautiful image - starkly outlined against the sky with the soft background. Large black and white on glossy paper sounds to me like a promotional photograph as you previously thought or perhaps part of an exhibit. I think the building was already occupied as some of the windows are open, so it might not be at the time of the original construction. Sorry I can't help with age, but as I said only people who took art photographs would work in black and white past the general availability of color photography. The fact that you can't see the pixels also lends credibility to an earlier age. There are people on this site that know far more than I do, so please take these comments with a grain of salt.

 

Oh, I've been a print seller for a long time, so for sure have a loupe! No dots at all!

I'm not as familiar with photographic processes, though. Since this has a typical glossy finish and it's starting to crack a bit where there are folds, it definitely seems like a photograph. I'm not aware of any prints that would look the way this does in person. But I'm open to learning if I'm mistaken....

 

Thanks!

 

Interesting... I had a buyer recently ask me if my scanner had put a green cast on paper items I had listed.

I do edit my photos to adjust coloring, but I also color-calibrate my monitor. So I've hoped that the color I see at least approximates what others will see. In my scan of this photo that I posted, I don't see a green cast, just a slight yellow tone to match the way the paper has aged.

If others see a green cast here, I'd appreciate if you could let me know so I can look into whether or not I need to adjust my settings. Thanks!

 

Thanks, Kiko. Good catch about the windows being open!

 

Now that I'm thinking about it, if the photo was taken when the sky was as dark as it appears, I'd think at least some lights would be on in the building. Is it odd that no lights seem to be on at all?

 

I haven't found my image on the web, but this one has the same feel. I haven't seen a credit for who the photographer was, though.

 

Hmm... I meant to say "What, me overthink things?..." Don't know how I ended up typing "rethink" instead!

 

I also see a green cast.

 

Jivvy, thanks for letting me know. I think I better play around with my settings and then check my images on both my husband's laptop and my own and both of our phones.

I sell things people mostly buy because of what they look like and a green cast on everything's not a good situation!