Flatiron Building, New York

Walter Gropius

1928 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

After Gropius resigned from the Bauhaus, the influential German design school he had founded and directed for almost a decade, he visited the United States. He was surprised to find that much American architecture was less modern than that of the stripped-down "machine-aesthetic" Bauhaus style. This startling photograph nevertheless reveals that Gropius found the Flatiron's prowlike profile irresistibly exciting, despite the building's old-fashioned decoration.

Artist

Walter Gropius

Date

1928

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987