Lunch atop a Skyscraper
Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous black-and-white photograph taken during construction of the RCA Building (renamed the GE Building in 1986) at Rockefeller Center in New York City, United States.
The photograph depicts eleven men eating lunch, seated on a girder with their feet dangling 256 meters (840 feet)[1] above the New York City streets. The men have no safety harness, which was linked to the Great Depression, when people were willing to take any job regardless of safety issues.[1] The photo was taken on September 20, 1932 on the 69th floor of the RCA Building during the last months of construction. According to archivists, the photo was in fact prearranged.[1] Although the photo shows real workers, it is believed that the moment was staged by the Rockefeller Center to promote its new skyscraper.[1] The photo appeared in the Sunday photo supplement of the New York Herald Tribune on October 2. The glass negative is now owned by Corbis who acquired it from the Acme Newspictures archive in 1995.
Formerly attributed to "anonymous", it has been credited to Charles C. Ebbets since 2003[2][3] and erroneously to Lewis Hine. The Corbis corporation is now officially returning its status to anonymous although most sources continue to credit Ebbets.[4][5][6][7]
There have been numerous claims regarding the identities of the men in the image. The movie Men at Lunch[8] traces some of the men to possible Irish origin, but the director plans to do further interviews to follow up among others claims from Swedish relatives.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d "The picture that proves why iconic photograph of workers eating their lunch on Rockefeller beam was all a publicity stunt". Daily Mail. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20031110/NEWS/311100319
- ^ http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20120306/ARTICLES/303069983
- ^ Reuters photographer blog, "[1]", September 20, 2012.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/nyregion/answers-to-questions-about-new-york.html?_r=0
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2012/03/11/nyregion/11FYI1.html
- ^ http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/reaching-the-heights/
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2373324/
- ^ http://hallandsposten.se/nyheter/halland/1.1895404-hogt-over-new-york-satt-bondpojkarna-fran-okome