Skip to product information
1 of 6

New York Public Library

SIGNED: New York Subways 1977 by Alen MacWeeney - Pre Order

SIGNED: New York Subways 1977 by Alen MacWeeney - Pre Order

Regular price €190,00 EUR
Regular price Sale price €190,00 EUR
Sale Sold out
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

SIGNED copies of New York Subways 1977 by Alen MacWeeney - Pre Order

Pre Order your copy now, very limited edition coming to Ireland in 2025.

Preview copy available to visit at Photo Museum Ireland, booking essential, email darragh@photomuseumireland.ie to make an appointment. 

In 1977, photographer Alen MacWeeney captured a melancholy, painterly series of images of people on New York’s subways. Born in Dublin, MacWeeney began his photographic career in Paris as an assistant to Richard Avedon. After moving to New York, he became captivated by the challenge of making images of people sitting and standing in the bright confines of subway cars. He drew particular inspiration from the works of Reginald Marsh, a social realist painter who was known for his depictions of crowded life in the city. But it was not until he began sorting through work prints that the project took on its unique voice. As the prints lay strewn about, partially on top of one another, MacWeeney found that the combined images told more than a single picture alone. Diptychs became the key to his subway photos. He created pairings that at first glance may appear to be a single image. The subtle groupings generate feelings of surprise, humor, imbalance and menace.

Limited edition of 300 printed by GHP Media in West Haven, CT.

Exclusive to the NYPL ( Coming soon to Photo Museum Ireland )

Collaborators: Alex Q. Arbuckle (Editor) Type: Hardcover Pages: 22 Dims: 18" x 7"

About Alen MacWeeney

After working with Richard Avedon, Alen MacWeeney left the world of studio photography and returned home to Dublin in the mid 1960s, acquiring a new 35mm Leica camera. Subjects from this period include itinerant Irish tinker and traveler communities, poetic landscapes inspired by Yeats, and photographs of Amish communities in Pennsylvania. Moving back to New York again in the 1970s, he continued with his now-established signature style of gritty-yet-tender street photography, and produced the subway photographs included in this exhibition. 

Alen MacWeeney is still active, living in New York City and Sag Harbor, and traveling to Ireland often. His work is in the collections of museums, institutional archives, and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (NY), The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Boston College, and The New York Public Library. His entire collection was recently acquired by University College Cork in Ireland, where it will be archived and maintained. In addition to his 2022 artist’s book New York Subways 1977, MacWeeney has also recently published a limited-edition portfolio of photographs taken in 1975 of his friend and fellow photographer Francesca Woodman.

The New York Public Library's Photography Collection acquired 42 of MacWeeney's New York Subways series photographs in 2013, and his unique artist's book, New York Subways 1977, in 2023.

View full details