Here’s a dramatic perspective on the Golden Age of Sailing. In the book On the Water: A Century of Iconic Maritime Photography from the Rosenfeld Collection, readers get an eyeful of images by Morris Rosenfeld and his sons, who defined maritime photography in the first half of the 20th century. There are racing sailboats, vintage wooden runabouts, handsome motoryachts and more, including the 1929 Sea Lyon runabout, shown above with its occupants having some pretty radical (and dangerous) fun.
Written by Nick Voulgaris and produced in collaboration with the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut—stewards of the Rosenfeld archive since 1984—the book features a curated selection of images that highlight the glamour and history of a bygone maritime era, including photos that have never been published before.
Born in 1885, Morris Rosenfeld wanted to be an artist, despite his parents’ wishes for him to become a doctor. By age 13, he’d left school with his Gundlach 4×5 plate camera and found work as a photojournalist. While he held many odd jobs, he also enjoyed an early introduction to action photography and was mentored by many professional photographers. By 1910, Morris had established his own studio in Manhattan and focused his work primarily on ships in the Hudson and East rivers.
Morris and his wife, Esther Marion Hirsch, had five children, with three following in his professional footsteps. David, Stanley and William worked for their father on various photojournalism assignments, earning money to pay for their own room and board in the city. They often ran the chase boat Foto, worked in the darkroom, and helped with boat and camera maintenance. William even created camera parts for on-the-water repairs.
Stanley took the reins of his father’s photography business and published A Century Under Sail, showcasing the work of his family. While the job was laborious and at times risky, Morris’ sons were grateful for their father’s lessons. “No matter how unforgiving the taskmaster, [Morris] left a record to which we hopefully contributed, of beauty on the water that will exist for a long, long time. Thanks to him it is in our blood too,” William wrote in a postscript for that book.
On The Water showcases that family legacy. “The love of sailing is a common language that transcends many boundaries,” Ted Turner wrote in the book’s preface. “Morris Rosenfeld’s images convey that in spirit. It is my hope that his photographs will inspire others to head offshore and further their bond with the ocean’s elements in the splendor of our fragile blue planet.”
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.
