Customer Reviews

New York, Line by Line: From Broadway to the Battery

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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It isn't easy finding new ways to view New York City, but the German-born artist who went by the name Robinson did just that in the 1960s and now again in an updated edition due out in October.

"New York Line by Line: From Broadway to the Battery" is an intensely detailed examination and rendering of the city's grand offerings of buildings and streets. The city's landmarks: Radio City Music Hall, Empire State Building, Lincoln Center and the United Nations building are among the more recognizable edifices that share space with simpler sketches of a museum garden, telephone booths and movie marquees.

At first glance, the drawings seem fairly easy and obvious. But a second look shows us the complexity of the work. Walls are drawn with hundreds of straight vertical lines to add shading; Windows in buildings near the Rockefeller Center ice rink are carefully lined and filled out, no matter how far from the focus and center of the drawing. Mott Street in Chinatown features pedestrians, cars, buildings, signs and fire escapes, and a lantern with clothing patterns consisting of lines running in different directions.

A view of downtown, from the Empire State Building, is mesmerizing in its detail. Row upon row of windows, buildings tucked against each other, just occasionally broken up by trees, fill the busy view of Manhattan, right down to the harbor filled with boats and the Statue of Liberty. (The original edition, published in 1967, was done before the World Trade Center went up, and, thankfully, apparently no one felt the urge to try to add the damaged site to this edition.)

That the drawings are a bit dated is part of its charm. The men in the sketches are all wearing hats; the women all seem to be in dresses. In fact, the people in general are better dressed than they are today.

This is a wonderful book for artists and anyone who loves New York. As an editor, I had only one beef and that is the discrepancy of the artist's year of death. Werne Kruse, Robinson's birth name, is listed on one page as having died in 1994 and another place as 1993. It's a bit jarring if that kind of information bothers you. If you just want to gaze on some intricate and closely executed hand illustrations, this could be the book for you.

This is a charming and visually engaging book for anyone with romantic affection for NYC or appreciation for line drawing. I fell in love with NY all over again. And at this price, it makes a thoughtful "little" gift (stocking stuffer) for any fan of the Big Apple.

I stumbled upon this book while specifically looking for hand-drawn line art of New York City similar to the cover of The Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs". I feel like I found one of those hidden gems that I should know about, but never did. This is kind of like a precursor to Where's Waldo; you'll find yourself analyzing every inch of each page, looking for interesting little details. Coming from someone with no art or architecture background, this book is a great, unique addition to the "large coffee table art book" collection.

A wonderful drawing book about New York City. We love it!
It's the 1st edition in the US.
Wilfried and Gundula Russ / Bremen - Germany

I'm originally from the NYC area and love to have unusual items around that remind me of that vibrant city. This and Pericoli's "The City Out My Window" are just the ticket.

Saw this book on CBS Sunday Morning and received it two days later. Great book, highly recommend. Thank you. AAA+

New York City is dazzling on a large scale and in its details. Much art representing the metropolis gets taken up with the compression of people, buildings, clutter and clambor. These drawings distill these elements to offer the brilliance in a very different, special and eye-opening way.

This presentation showcases the eye and hand of a wonderful observer in the city who reduces landmarks and general views to single color studies that present the essence of each urban scene in a large-scale collection of impressions showing scores of the component parts of Gotham.

Each individual drawing has its own character and variety to match that of the city. There are works jammed with molecular parts that demand close attention, others spaced to offer a sense of the open areas to be found within the mass of the place, reverse-printed scenes with an amazing feel of the buildings at night, and closeup representations of the storefronts or people that give the city its distinctive makeup.

The spectacle of NYC is made special, spectacular, by a simply beautiful edition here that highlights the talents of both artist and editor.

Revel in it.