{"id":11775,"date":"2017-02-16T16:54:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T21:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/?post_type=product&p=11775"},"modified":"2017-06-10T14:38:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T18:38:38","slug":"piccadilly-circus-london-england-vintage-aerial-photograph-by-charles-e-rotkin","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/product\/piccadilly-circus-london-england-vintage-aerial-photograph-by-charles-e-rotkin\/","title":{"rendered":"View, England, London, Aerial, Piccadilly Circus, Charles E. Rotkin, Vintage Photograph, c. 1950s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rotkin was a respected and prolific documentary photographer, widely published during the golden age of pictorial magazines, as well as in corporate publications. \u00a0The works that brought Rotkin the greatest renown, however, were his pioneering aerial photography collections, Europe: An Aerial Close-Up (1958)<\/strong> and The U.S.A.: An Aerial Close-Up<\/strong> (1962, 1968). \u00a0These books captured the popular imagination at the time, thrilling the public with novel perspectives of familiar places and the beauty of both the natural and the man-made environment. \u00a0Rotkin can be seen as one of the heirs to the 19th- and early 20th-century tradition of bird’s-eye views of American towns drawn by itinerant artists in the pre-aviation era and often made into prints. \u00a0Of course, the earlier artists’ work, though convincingly drawn and detailed, were typically imaginative projections based on their studies of the town from the ground. \u00a0These became obsolete with the advent of the airplane and helicopter, which offered actual bird’s-eye views, along with cameras that could take pictures at split-second shutter speeds. \u00a0Rotkin was one of the early pioneers of the new medium and technique. \u00a0His work remains significant as an early example of aerial photography with an artistic purpose, and also as historical documents of places that in many cases have significantly changed in the ensuing decades.<\/p>\n

Rotkin became interested in photography in his late teens.\u00a0 After graduating from high school he took a night job at the post office with the notion of pursuing photography by day.\u00a0 He soon met Roy Stryker (1893-1975), who ran the Farm Security Administration’s Historical Section, where from 1935 to 1943 he oversaw the photographic documentation of the activities of this government agency.\u00a0 The FSA was formed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.\u00a0 Rotkin was among the many photographers whose careers Stryker helped launch, including Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Berenice Abbott and Dorothea Lange.\u00a0 Through the FSA, Rotkin also befriended the photographer Jack Delano and the artist Ben Shahn.\u00a0 In this milieu, he became interested in social theories of photography.\u00a0 By 1943, he had sold photo features to New York City newspapers.\u00a0 World War II was in progress, and he joined the Army, where his background as an amateur pilot led to his assignment to an Air Force squadron.\u00a0 There he did aerial and gunner photography and received informal on-the-job training as a co-pilot.\u00a0 He also took portraits of Air Force personnel that were published in military publications.<\/p>\n

When Stryker accepted a position at Standard Oil of New Jersey to document the company’s activities, he hired Rotkin to take aerial photographs of the oil fields.\u00a0 Rotkin’s connections with Stryker also led to his appointment as Chief Photographer for the Puerto Rican government’s Office of Information, where he set up what he later called “a mini-FSA” there and published his first book of documentary photography Puerto Rico: Caribbean Crossroads<\/strong> (1947).\u00a0\u00a0 In 1949 he was a founding member of the agency Photography for Industry, among the first photographers to apply the documentary approach to corporate projects such as annual reports. In addition to his industrial work, he published photographs in the Time Inc. magazines such as Life<\/strong> and Time<\/strong>, as well as Holiday<\/strong>, Business Week<\/strong>, Collier’s<\/strong>, and the New York Times Sunday Magazine<\/strong>.\u00a0 As a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, he promoted the intellectual property rights of photographers and served as the organization’s president for two years in the 1950s.\u00a0 Later in his life, he taught photography and wrote a respected book of career advice, Professional Photographer\u2019s Survival Guide<\/strong> (1982, rev. 1992).<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Chad, Barry L. “Bridging the Urban Landscape. The Photographers: Roy E. Stryker.”\u00a0 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.<\/em>\u00a0 14 May 2003.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.clpgh.org\/exhibit\/photog14.html (8 February 2006).<\/p>\n

Reese, Kay and Leipzig, Mimi.\u00a0 “An Interview with Charlie Rotkin.”\u00a0 1992.\u00a0 Online at American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP).<\/em> 7 March 2005.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.asmp.org\/60th\/interview_charlie_rotkin.php (6 February 2006).<\/p>\n

Rotkin, Charles E. Europe: An Aerial Close-Up<\/em>.\u00a0 Philadelphia and New York: J.P. Lippincott, 1958.<\/p>\n

Rotkin, Charles E.\u00a0 The U.S.A.: An Aerial Close-Up<\/em>. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1968.<\/p>\n

Condition: Our Rotkin photographs were used by the photographer himself, often in connection with the production of his books. \u00a0Therefore, they have, to varying degrees, the usual expected light toning, wear, handling, soiling, soft creases, bumped edges, etc. \u00a0Some have short marginal tears. \u00a0Many were mounted on foam core by Rotkin. \u00a0Many have Rotkin’s markings — stamps, inscriptions, or labels — on the verso. \u00a0For a detailed condition report including the markings on this photograph, contact us<\/a> and be sure to include the title of the photo in your inquiry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles E. Rotkin (1916-2004)
\nPiccadilly Circus<\/strong>
\nAmerican: c. 1956-58
\nBlack and white photograph
\n16 x 20 inches
\nProvenance: Estate of the Artist
\n$300<\/p>\n

Original aerial photograph taken by Charles E. Rotkin of Piccadilly Circus in London, England, for his book Europe: An Aerial Close-Up<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This photograph is published on page 32 of that work, with Rotkin\u2019s description:<\/p>\n

“Piccadilly Circus is London\u2019s Times Square, and Londoners rightly hold that sooner or later everyone in the world can be met there. This gay center is a good, if confusing place in which to celebrate New Year\u2019s Eve or, no less obviously, to enjoy a late pint after the cinema or the theater.\u00a0 If you are young, exuberant, enjoy a climb \u2026 you can express yourself by a casual scaling of the Statue of Eros.\u00a0 \u2026From this ‘hub of the universe,’ many well-known streets radiate.\u00a0 Upper left is Haymarket, running into Coventry Street (which if followed to the left goes to Leicester Square).\u00a0 The triangular building to the left of Eros is a movie house, the London Pavilion, and across the Circus is the Criterion Theater.\u00a0 Shaftsbury Avenue with its theaters (Lyric, Globe, Apollo and others) extends into the lower left.\u00a0 Regent Street and Lower Regent Street are on the right.”<\/div>\n
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