The Radical Empathy of Dan Weiner

His photographs beautifully capture the still moments that bridge the activities of our lives..How and why is he unknown to so many of us who love photography?

Weiner is one of our long-neglected Masters! Thanks, David Gonzalez and NY Times. Would like to know more about the project he was working on in Kentucky at the time of his death, and the circumstances. Any leads, anyone?

This is utter reality, seen through a dreaming eye. There is unerring rightness to this work; a "suchness" that pulls us in and keeps us involved. Just take the first image shown here. Beneath the timeless flirting scene (which might make Vermeer smile) is a master class in compositional technique, tonal hierarchy, and viewer placement. I could go on... Fantastic work!

A time to remember! So reflective of the period, nostalgic, touching, allowing to touch the parts of the mind that has been numbed. Thank you Dan Weiner, than you NY Times.

Incredible alive atmosphere! It was really a gift to capture all of these people without making them feeling embarrassed themselves.

Great stuff, but I have to ask what cameras he used. Was he a Leica man?

We really need an updated, gorgeously printed book of Dan Weiner's work published.

I don't understand why the Times would publish this article. All of these communities have been wiped from the face of the Earth and the Times generally seems to celebrate their destruction. The great wave of better immigrants have washed the City clean of this worthless past. Why is every culture around the world valued by the Times except the cultures of NYC and the United States from 70 years ago? Quaint to look at but not worthy of being protected.

Very evocative, but one-sided, since there no black or Latino faces.

Why ON EARTH does the NY Times wait till an exhibit is over to sing its praises? I wish I had a dollar for every time you've done this. It's been there since June. What's up with that? Fortunately, this one has been extended until next Thursday. It is NOT open on the weekend. I notice that none of THAT information was in the article. Sheesh.

We were a simpler animal back then. Less enmeshed with the infrastructure, less captive to the media, much more driving in our lane of social class and ethnic background. And driving automobiles with the heft of an armored car on roads incredibly empty of traffic. Beat was the poetry, jazz was the music, and the 60's were just around the corner.

I do think that if this work were more widely shown, it would create a sensation. In this first photo (Broadway, NYC,1951), everything is so transitory; of that period, yet timeless.You couldn't have directed things to be better. And that quality has a way of standing out to the viewer.

Thank you for these wonderful photographs. I visited my childhood again. What a pity he died so young.

Great photographs; I grew up in Brooklyn ca 1952 - 1968. Really captured the gritty but hopeful energy of those times

I grew up just over the county line in Nassau in the 1960s. From my grammar school window, I could see Creedmore Hospital in Queens on sullen, overcast winter days. A bus ride west to the subway meant a short ride to Manhattan. In my memory of Long Island, Queens and Manhattan, every memory in my childhood is in black and white. This artist's work fills in quite well.

Whatever your thoughts on society at that time, one common thread to the photos is the importance of dressing well in public. It demonstrated a level of respect that is missing today. Maybe we should get some of that back.

Great work!