American Post-War Street Photography

Watch Darius Himes, the International Head of Photographs at Christie’s, discuss Post-War Street Photography, one of the reaches periods of creativity in American history. ‘In the post-war period of the 1950s, many Americans believed they were living in a paradise. As one writer has put it, “It was an era of almost unbelievable abundance, symbolized by rampant consumerism, car culture and suburban sprawl. But behind the clapboard exterior of those near-identical homes built across the country, some Americans were starting to suspect it was a lie: perhaps consumption didn’t’ lead to a happy society, after all.' This magnificent collection was assembled over the course of thirty years and includes portfolios by Joel Meyerowitz, Larry Fink, Mark Cohen, Leon Levinstein, William Klein, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand.