Manhattan Portraits
The newest issue (No. 14) of the magazine Acne Paper is a tribute to creative culture throughout Manhattan’s recent history, with nostalgic black and white portraits of the borough’s streets, and the many now-famous writers, painters, performers, and artists of all types who have filled them and been inspired by them. Of course, the magazine takes a heavy lean toward the fashion side of things as well, since the clothing and the style of the times are an inseparable counterpart to the city itself. The issue features contemporary interviews and portraits of those who have long been associated with Manhattan and its institutions, from The New Yorker and its covers to off-Broadway theater groups and their playwrights.
The nostalgic bend of the issue can be seen in its prominently-featured classic black-and-white portraits of creative heroes taken by Brigitte Lacombe, and at the heart of the magazine is a collection of vintage photographs from New York’s classic Kodachrome era, by the photographer Saul Leiter. And the topic of Manhattan could certainly not be complete without a look into nine widely varying apartments, each in different neighborhoods. What the magazine (and borough) lacks in space for the up and coming artists, it makes up for in a bounty of inspirational source material for the next generation to take it over. Despite the current difficulty for most young creative people to reside within its confines, as long as Manhattan’s mythology and mystique continues to draw the attention so many people like those featured here, it will certainly never cease to be a center of creativity and culture.
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