The Edge of the City

For most of the time he worked as a photographer, and parallel to creating the work with which he would establish his reputation, Charles Pratt (1926–1976) gradually assembled a body of work he called “The Edge of the City.” Having been born and raised in New York, Pratt found himself increasingly drawn to the edges “with a sense of urgency, knowing that they may be gone tomorrow – not just extended but really, finally gone.” Pratt documented open spaces threatened by change: the New Jersey meadows, the New York harbor, and the areas along the rivers, finally zeroing in on the heart of Manhattan. From scenes of distant highways to close-ups of the littered roadbeds, these photographs of a bygone era preserve the process of change.