Lunch Atop A Skyscraper: Revealing the Backstory of an Iconic Photograph
The iconic photograph known as "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" captures a moment frozen in time, taken on September 20, 1932.
In this black-and-white image, eleven intrepid ironworkers find themselves perched on a steel beam 850 feet (260 m) above the bustling streets of Manhattan, New York City.
His high point was the sixty-ninth floor of what was then the RCA Building, now recognized as 30 Rockefeller Plaza, located within the grandeur of Rockefeller Center.
This panoramic snapshot, a feat of both engineering and audacity, was arranged as a publicity stunt, part of a campaign promoting the skyscraper.
The image not only captures the grandeur of the city below, but also the camaraderie of these immigrant ironworkers who, despite the intense altitude, attend their lunch ritual with indifference.
Sitting in a manner that seemed to defy gravity, these men, who often navigated the complex network of girders with casual familiarity, wrote a unique chapter in the city's history.
Identity of iron makers
According to a New York Post survey, several claims have been made regarding the identity of the men in the image.
The 2012 documentary Men at Lunch investigated claims that two of the men were Irish immigrants, and the director revealed in 2013 that he planned to follow up on other claims of Swedish relatives.
The film confirms the identities of two individuals: Joseph Eckner, third from left, and Joe Curtis, third from right, by cross-referencing with other photographs taken on the same day in which they were named at the time.
The first man from the right, holding the bottle, has been identified as Slovak activist Gustav (GustÃ) PopovÃk.
The photograph was found in his possessions, with the note on the back reading "Don't you worry, my dear Mariska, as you can see I'm still with the bottle".
The photo has been called "the most famous lunch break photo in New York history" by New York Post correspondent Ashley Cross. It has been used and imitated in many artworks.
Although critics have dismissed the photo as a publicity stunt, Johnson has called it "a piece of American history."
This photo, taken during the Great Depression, became an icon of New York City and is often recreated by construction workers. Time included this image in its list of the 100 most influential images of 2016.
Discussing the significance of the image in 2012, Ken Johnston, manager of Corbis' historical collections, said: There is a dissonance between the action – lunch – and the place – 800 feet in the air – and these people are very informal about it.
It's visceral: people have told me they have trouble watching it because of their fear of heights. And these men - you feel like you get a very strong sense of their character through their expressions, clothing and postures.
The photographer of the picture "Lunch on top of a skyscraper" is still a mystery
The identity of the photographer is unknown. It is often attributed to Works Progress Administration photographer Lewis Hine that the structure is the Empire State Building.
In 1998, Tammy Ebbets Hahn, a resident of Wilmington, North Carolina, saw a poster of the image and guessed that it was one of the photographs of her father (Charles C. Ebbets; 1905–1978). In 2003, he contacted Ken Johnston of Corbis.
Corbis, a company that provides archived images to professional photographers, hired Marksman Inc., a private investigation firm, to find the photographer. An investigator discovered an article in The Washington Post in which the image was attributed to Hamilton Wright.
However, the Wright family was not familiar with this photo. It was common for Wright to receive credit for photographs taken by people working for him; Hahn's father worked for Hamilton Wright Features Syndicate.
In 1932, Ebbets was appointed photographic director of Rockefeller Center, responsible for publicity for the new skyscraper.
Hahn found his father's $1.50 an hour wage (equivalent to $32 an hour in 2022), a photograph of the ironworkers, and an image of his father with a camera, from what appears to be the same place and time Was.
Analyzing the evidence, Johnson said: "As far as I'm concerned, he's the photographer." Corbis later acknowledged Abbates's authorship.
It was later revealed that photographers Thomas Kelly, William Leftwich and Ebbets were present that day. Due to the uncertain identity of the photographer, the image is again without credit.
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