Langdon Clay: Cars - New York City, 1974-1976

Alongside the exhibition “Autophoto”, organised by Fondation Cartier in Paris, Polka galerie presents for the first time in France the series “Cars” by Langdon Clay. Armed with his tripod and his Leica, Clay has captured the cars he encountered in New York City and nearby Hoboken, New Jersey between 1974 and 1976.

At that time cars in America were real estate, enormous boats in which you could eat, sleep, change clothes, throw parties, or maintain an office. And that included New York City then, since most of its population took the subway.

Clay photographed the cars he encountered while wandering the streets of New York City and Hoboken at night. “They were all there, motionless, quietly parked. They were staring at me, standing still at the foot of the buildings. Side by side, as if they could create a kind of geographical and imaginary map of this city that I have loved so much.”

Shot in Kodachrome and deftly lit with then new sodium vapor lights, the pictures feature a distinct array of makes and models set against the gritty details of their surrounding urban and architectural environments.