Rediscovering Salignac and City
Photos Offer a Bridge to Past

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

No one knows why, at age 45, in 1906 Eugene de Salignac started taking photographs for the Department of Bridges. No one knows if he was trained for the job, or if he ever took another picture after he was forced to retire 28 years later.

Image courtesy of Eugene de Salignac/Aperture Foundation and New York City Municipal Archives; from New York Rises by Eugene de Salignac (Aperture/New York City Municipal Archives, 2007) WAITING TO LAND: Eugene de Salignac, working for the Department of Bridges and later Plant and Structures in the early 20th century, documented the construction of much of the city's infrastructure, including the Queensboro Bridge in 1907 before it was connected to either Queens or Manhattan.

"We don't know very much about him," said Michael Lorenzini, who is the senior photographer at the Municipal Archives. "But we do know that at age 72 he was still clambering around on top of bridges."

Each Bridge Has a Tale

Mr. de Salignac's haunting images, taken with a massive 50-pound camera and seared onto thick glass slides, have finally been collected and released in a book appropriately titled "New York Rises." The stark and steamy black-and-white photos show how the Queensboro Bridge grew out of the river before it touched land, the treacherous process of painting the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the chaos caused by trolley car congestion at the mouth of the Williamsburg Bridge.

Mr. de Salignac worked for the city from 1903 until 1934, when the Board of Estimate denied his request to stay on past the forced retirement age.

Mr. de Salignac's daily treks around the city produced 20,000 slides that capture the movement of boats that ran on the city's 15 ferry lines, harrowing accidents on roadways, the construction of the Municipal Building and the daily labor that assembled some of New York's most impressive, and most used, structures.

'Men and Horses Built It'

"Here's this great age of city building," said Mr. Lorenzini, "these huge projects, but he's showing that it's men; it's men and horses that are doing the building."

Mr. Lorenzini said that instead of taking a more straightforward, journalistic approach, Mr. de Salignac's work carries the mark of an artist.

"He's making sure the perspective is right," explained Mr. Lorenzini, "the way he leaves voids open, the way he fills space, it's very suggestive."

He added that this was not Mr. de Salignac's invention; that the uses of light and space were techniques that would have been discussed in photography journals of the time.

Homelessness Up Close

Mr. Lorenzini pointed to a photo of a homeless shelter during the Depression with lines of beds stretching back into darkness. "He's forcing us to confront what that space means," he said. "Look at all those beds, look at the size of the tragedy."

The hazy feel of the pictures was not necessarily the result of an imaging technique, according to Mr. Lorenzini. The printing of the photos and the type of paper might have enhanced it, but the effect is also because of the reality of life at that time.

Evokes Transit Strike

"The city was a very dirty, smoky place back then," said Mr. Lorenzini. "There were coal fires,

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang HOLDING ON TO THE PAST: Senior Photographer Michael Lorenzini is the editor of a newly released collection of Eugene de Salignac's pictures taken between 1906 and 1934 of some of the city's most dominating bridges and buildings.

buildings had their own furnaces where they burned trash, it was a smoky type of place." He noted that in one picture you can actually see burning piles of ash under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Although taken decades ago, some New Yorkers said the images did not seem so far away.

"It's just a celebration of the work New York City employees do and continue to do," said Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Martha Hirst, looking over the photos at a book-signing April 10. She pointed to a shot of a crowded trek by pedestrians over the Queensboro Bridge in 1909. "This picture reminds me of the transit strike and of 9/11," she said.

Didn't Get Rich

Some city agencies, such as the Mayor's Office, the Parks Department and the Department of Environmental Protection, still have official photographers, and many are members of Teamsters Local 237. The pay has increased somewhat with the times. When Mr. de Salignac retired, he was taking in $1,200 a year, which adjusted for inflation is equivalent to about $18,224 today. The starting salary now for city photographers is $32,387.

Whatever particulars of Mr. de Salignac's life can't be found in city records, such as his Chelsea address and his daily logs, remain a mystery.

Demystify Building

"There's no one who's alive who we could find who had ever seen him," said Mr. Lorenzini, who tracked down Mr. de Salignac's granddaughter and obtained some family information. "He's probably in these photos somewhere, but we don't know what he looks like."

The power of his images convinced dozens of city workers to show up at the book-signing last week.

"Seeing the pictures, you can learn about how the bridges were built," said Jamil Sheikh, a Project Architect who has worked for the city for 14 years. "I knew about the Brooklyn Bridge, but not the Manhattan. It's always amazing to discover these things."

Nostalgic Images

Some of the people buying books said keeping the photos was a way of hanging onto the past. Sandra Cantine, a Purchasing Liaison, has worked for the city since 1985 and says she has always been a city history buff.

"I'm interested in any part of New York that's gone now," the Fort Greene resident said.

"Now I'm watching all these 40-story buildings go up and all kinds of physical changes."

Ms. Cantine added that the new residents were changing with the landscape. "The new people can be very rude, just because they think that's what New Yorkers are supposed to be like," she said, "but that's not what we're like; we're only rude if there's a need for it."

Mr. de Salignac's work will be on display at the Museum of New York from May 4 until Sept. 4.