Collection Highlights
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Camera with lens
Camera (Model D5200) with 24 mm. lens (AF Niccor) and strap.
William John “Bill” Cunningham (1929-2016) was a long-time New York Times photographer and journalist known for his “On the Street” and “Evening Hours” columns. As much a cultural anthropologist as he was a fashion photographer, Cunningham was known for candid street or event photographs of New Yorkers that depicted up-to-the-minute fashion trends. Among Cunningham’s most frequent locations to photograph his candid shots was the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street and at the “up-to-twenty galas” he attended each week.
To achieve his telling photographs, Bill Cunningham often circulated around the city on a bicycle. The Nikon camera is one of several owned by Cunningham, and was probably used through the end of his career.
The collage bike helmet and collage hatbox were given to Cunningham in 2009 by the New York Times. Similarly, the Living Landmark Award was given to Cunningham in 2009; the Carnegie Hall medal was given in 2012.
Donor Louise Doktor was a long-time Cunningham muse and close friend of the photographer. Cunningham bequeathed the bicycle, jacket, camera, and Living Landmark award to her. John Kurdewan, who is donating the bicycle helmet and Carnegie Hall medal, was Cunningham’s assistant at the New York Times for twenty years.
