This is a good collection, though not as deep as the one the Magazine originally published. The photographers included now number 14, and some of these are represented by just one picture. However, the cumulative impact of these photographs is still considerable, and Michael Kimmelman—the chief art critic of the Times—provides a thoughtful background essay on the photographers' assignment. The Web exhibit will be updated every six weeks, which should help offset its relative lack of depth vis-a-vis other art and photography sites.

The subject matter helps, too. As Kimmelman notes, Times Square and its denizens have fascinated photographers and the public at large seemingly forever. The district's aesthetic appeal operates on several levels: it is a universal symbol of anonymous urban bustle ("Crossroads of the World"), it represents Theater (at least in this country), and it is a very real locus of gritty street scenes and sordid night life (though this is beginning to change somewhat, now that Disney and other commercial forces have begun a massive cleanup effort). All of this is on display in the Times collection, of course, and it remains very much worth seeing, particularly in light of the substantial changes underway.

(Reviewed June 1, 1997)