El Morocco

1955
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
During its peak from the 1930s through the 1950s, it was nearly impossible to get a table at the famous Manhattan nightclub, El Morocco, which was frequented by A-list entertainers, politicians, and those in and on the make in high society. For a few nights, the doors opened for a scrappy, Bronx-born photographer, Garry Winogrand, whose photographs of the scene exploded the idea of the snapshot. They blur the line between journalistic and artistic photography by introducing a new, exceedingly confrontational style of small-camera picture making. Direct, invasive, yet intuitively choreographed, this approach won the artist high praise and a steady stream of work from a wide variety of magazine editors from Harper’s Bazaar to Pageant and Sports Illustrated.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: El Morocco
  • Artist: Garry Winogrand (American, New York 1928–1984 Tijuana, Mexico)
  • Date: 1955
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 9 1/8 × 13 1/2 in. (23.2 × 34.3 cm)
    Framed: 15 1/2 × 20 in. (39.4 × 50.8 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs