This is the first exhibition devoted entirely to the Bowery, drawn from twenty years of the New Museum's own research into the street outside its front door. The objects carry the argument rather than the wall text: an 1830s hand-pumped fire engine, the Feejee Mermaid from the dime-museum era, Jacob Riis's tenement photographs, and downtown art from the CBGB decades by Haring, Goldin, Hesse and Twombly. Four centuries of the same half-mile.
What to expect
Artifacts, maps, archival material and artworks arranged across four centuries rather than sorted by medium, so a hand-pumped fire engine and a dime-museum hoax end up near Riis's tenement photographs and downtown art from the punk years. It draws on the museum's own Bowery Artists Tribute oral-history archive, and an illustrated catalogue accompanies the show.
Good to know
- The New Museum is at 235 Bowery - the exhibition is literally about the street outside the door, so walk part of it before or after.
- Curated by Lisa Phillips, Director Emeritus, with Thalia Stefaniuk, Curatorial Assistant.
- It draws on the museum's own archive and its Bowery Artists Tribute oral-history project, built over roughly twenty years.
- An illustrated catalogue accompanies the show, with contributions from Laurie Anderson and David Byrne among others.
- Diego Marcon's Arrivederci, Piggies! opens the same week, so one visit covers both exhibitions.
- Bowery on the J/Z and Second Avenue on the F are the closest stations, with Prince Street on the R/W a short walk west.
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Common questions
What are the highlights?
An 1830s hand-pumped fire engine, the Feejee Mermaid that lured crowds into the Bowery's dime museums, and Jacob Riis's photographs from How the Other Half Lives, plus works by Keith Haring, Nan Goldin, Eva Hesse, Robert Indiana, Cy Twombly and John Giorno.
Is this an art show or a history show?
Both. It mixes artifacts, maps and archival material with artworks by artists whose lives intersected the street, tracing the Bowery from a Lenape footpath through farmland, entertainment district, skid row and artists' haven.
Can I see it with the Marcon exhibition?
Yes. Diego Marcon's Arrivederci, Piggies! opens at the New Museum in the same week and runs on the same schedule, so a single visit covers both.
