Sailor and Girl, Times Square, New York America

Sailor and Girl, Times Square, New York

1939, printed 1970s

Lou Stoumen

(American, 1917–1991)

America

gelatin silver print

Image: 30.4 x 22.8 cm (11 15/16 x 9 in.); 35.5 x 27.8 cm (14 x 10 15/16 in.)

Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2018.378

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Description

Lou Stoumen described the process of street photography and the creation of this photograph. “It’s sometimes necessary to shoot from the hip, like an ambushed gunfighter,” he said. “It happens fast. You guess the distance, the angle, and you shoot. I saw the possibility of this photograph aboard a subway train under Times Square and shot immediately, from my hip. If I’d raised the camera to my eye the sailor and his girl would have reacted, with anger perhaps or laughter. But then this moment of amorous electricity between them would have been forever lost.”