My father’s early Brooklyn photos are a treasure I didn’t know existed
My father, Irving Kaufman, loved New York. Or at least, as I knew him, he loved Manhattan. But before he loved Manhattan, he loved Brooklyn. And after he loved Manhattan, he still loved Brooklyn.
He was a photographer. His love showed in his photographs. What he loved most, for its own sake, no strings attached, was Brooklyn, then Manhattan: the streets, the stores, the people, the buildings, the skylines, stark urban beauty. Outdoors, where the city could show off. That love is most evident in his early work – mid 1930s through the war years — some for the Eagle, some for local clients, most for his own exploration and growth, all on his own terms.
The local clients during those early years were Brooklyn schools, hospitals, civic groups, charities, business groups. He covered a steady stream of meetings, dinners and public events that didn’t often lend themselves to aesthetics. Yet a lot of the work has much the same character, attention, affection and devotion that showed so strongly in the independent, creative work he did for the Eagle or for his own joy.