#wall st.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Black Thursday: crowds panic in the financial district due to the heavy trading on the stock market, October 24, 1929.

Photo: Associated Press via the Fayetteville Observer

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Trinity Church, ca. 1933.

Photo: Berenice Abbott via Syracuse Univ.

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Curb market traders in a downpour, Broad Street, ca. 1922.

Photo: Niday Picture Library/Alamy

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Tavík František Šimon, New York Stock Exchange, 1927. Soft-ground etching and aquatint in colors.

Photo: Invaluable Auctions

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Robert Wilvers, Trinity Church, ca. 1956-57. Watercolor and pencil on paperboard.

This painting was included in a 2024 exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum entitled "Steel and Sky: Views of New York City." It showcased the experiences and achievements of a broad cross-section of artists, such as Isabel Bishop, Peggy Bacon, Paul Cadmus, William H. Johnson, and John Sloan, who practiced in New York through the early and middle years of the twentieth century.

Wilvers was also a commercial artist and a prominent advertising executive. In the 1970s he helped develop the commercials for Alka-Seltzer built around the jingle ''Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is.''

Photo: Smithsonian American Art Museum

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The grim faces of Wall Street, 1951.

Photo: Homer Page via the Nelson-Atkins Museum

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In the Fifties, people dressed formally even in the soggiest heat, such as these folks on Wall Street, August 1958.

Photo: Sam Falk for the NY Times via Times Instagram

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An enterprising suspender merchant pitched his wagon in front of the New York Stock Exchange, June 26, 1938. "I heard the market is holding up," said the pitchman, "And I figured that pants needed securities like anything else. Besides, remember these guys lost their shirts in 1929, and maybe these things will come in handy."

Photo: LJ for the Associated Press