"For more than two centuries, artists have captured New York's harbors, skylines, festivities, street scenes, and buildings in paintings that shed brilliant light on aspects of the city's history. This beautiful book introduces nearly 160 of these urban scene paintings. Drawn from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, the works reflect the shifting moods, restless energy, and harsh contradictions of this consummate metropolis.". "The cityscapes - painted by such well-known artists as John Sloan, Asher Durand, and Ben Shahn as well as by less familiar names - span the full stylistic range of American painting from the post-Revolutionary period to the present day."--BOOK JACKET.