Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen Who Built It

In this compelling talk, writer Glenn Kurtz revisits Lewis Hine’s celebrated photographs of the Empire State Building, revealing the real people behind these legendary images. Moving past their status as anonymous symbols of strength and ambition, Kurtz brings their personal histories into focus, offering a deeper, more human understanding of the building’s creation.

Through meticulous research and storytelling, he reconstructs the lives of the workers captured mid-air, men whose identities and experiences have long been overlooked. As Kurtz suggests, these figures have too often stood in for broad ideals rather than being recognised as individuals in their own right.

By shedding new light on Hine’s photographs, this talk transforms familiar imagery into vivid portraits of labour, risk, and resilience, reframing one of America’s most iconic architectural achievements through the stories of the people who built it.

This talk is part of a series exploring our exhibition, Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photography.