A native New Yorker, Charles Lichtenstein attended the Institute of Design from 1947 to 1950, years in which Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind reshaped the school’s curriculum. They encouraged students like Lichtenstein to test new aesthetic forms through, among other things, studies of designed objects and architectural structures. Lichtenstein’s image of the city’s downtown riverfront exemplifies the dual principles of the Institute of Design, capturing its architectural lines from an unusual viewpoint and in high contrast.