Chalk Games, 1950
Gelatin silver print, printed 1988
16 × 19 ¾ in.
Signed in pencil and stamped on verso
October 6, 2025
Having turned a New York City street into their own chalkboard, these kids look like they might have split the atom, if they hadn't been called in for dinner first. Pictures like this one earned Arthur Leipzig a reputation as one of best photographic chroniclers of mid-century city street life in New York City. Here he found the ideal vantage point to capture the dazzling constellation of drawings dreamt up by this energetic flock of kids.
When asked about the source of his inspiration, Leipzig cited the painting Children’s Games by the Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Bruegel‘s sprawling painting depicts close to 100 children’s games, and Leipzig marveled at how little those games had changed in 500 years. The streetwide inventory of chalk drawings in Leipzig's picture is very nearly that painting's equal.
This handsome oversized print is the ideal way to get lost in Leipzig's timeless photograph.
