NYC has expanded its cultural fabric with the recent opening of Fotografiska, a photography museum import from Stockholm, Sweden. Prepare to be welcomed by an impressively curated and edited collection of works.
The museum is located in a gorgeous Renaissance revival six-story building in the Gramercy/Flatiron area of Manhattan. Brothers Jan and Per Broman designed the concept on the foundation of photography as a haven for innovation and free expression. The goal is to inspire a more conscious world through photography. A broad range of rotating work is on display with styles spanning across landscape, portrait, abstract, documentary and more – from easily accessible to risqué and conceptual.
On the ground floor there is a comfortable café (coffee, wine, small bites), a bookshop and requisite store. After enjoying an espresso or coffee at the café, I suggest taking the elevator to the top sixth floor and working your way down. (Even better, procure a glass of wine at the café and they will allow you to bring it with you while viewing the exhibition). The current photography works center around a single or dual theme per floor level. For the opening, themes include: Main Stage (photography of musicians and performers), 30 Years of Photographing Women, Inheritance, Thinking like a Mountain (powerful environmental works), Testaments, and Other People’s Children.
Veronika (named after the patron saint of photography) is a gorgeously lush and alluring restaurant on the 2nd floor, designed by renowned Roman + Williams. The restaurant is a highly sophisticated textural treat. Designed to feel like you are transported to Eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth center, it draws culinary inspiration from northern France, Austria and Eastern Europe. Currently the restaurant and bar are open for dinner, with plans for lunch and brunch in the future. Additionally, through a discreet door off the main floor is the Chapel Bar & cocktail lounge which is exquisitely designed for elegant cocktails and retains the ceiling and lovely detailed pane glass windows from the original restored chapel.
