David Halle

Since 2012 I've been giving architectural walking tours in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with an emphasis on contemporary architecture and the changing landscape of certain parts of the city, ideally where a density of new, interesting buildings are located. One of the most obvious locations is the High Line, which is a well-designed landscape in and of its own right, but which has spurred an unbelievable amount of cutting-edge architecture. My knowledge of much along its edges is strong, but in regards to Hudson Yards and other parts of Manhattan's West Side, not so much. One book that has filled that void tremendously well is this sociological study by David Halle and Elisabeth Tiso. It does an excellent job of tracing the evolution of the High Line, the Meatpacking District, and areas in and around Hudson Yards, in terms of art, economics, politics, and other concerns. The primary inclusion of art means the authors also devote a chapter to the Lower East Side, which has seen many galleries open this century. This book helps in understanding, for instance, why galleries continue to flourish in Chelsea but didn't disappear as in SoHo (hint: it's about zoning). I wish there were more books like this, be they about NYC or any place of interest; the balance of sociology, history, and other aspects, combined with a clarity of writing, has made this one of the most helpful books in my understanding of 21st-century NYC.… (mere)

This book was written for me. I am the director of arts foundation focusing on avant garde digital art and I have an abiding interest in house design and function.

Halle wrote this book to refute popular art theories: that high art is a cultural barrier or that art is controlled and directed by corporations or that art is evidence of the power structure that shuts out the working class from the upper classes. In his investigation of 200 homes in Manhattan the Long Island suburbs he found a distinct difference in art in upper class homes and working class homes, especially Catholic working class home. But he also found a profound set of similarities. First, the predominant art displayed in all homes are landscapes, preferably depopulated landscapes of a calm and ordered nature. Even upper class homes that have abstract art often describe it as "looking like clouds" or the sea or a meadow. Secondarily, no homes feature painted formal portraits of the head of household. Instead both upper and working class household had numerous family only pictures taken at leisure moments in stand alone frames. Thirdly, there is a correlation between the display of "primitive" non-Western art, especially African art, and political affiliation.

If you are interested in the display of art, not in museums, but in the actual homes where people live with it, this is a fascinating book.… (mere)