John Albok (1895-1982) was born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States in 1921. He established a successful tailoring business at 1392 Madison Avenue. For sixty years he photographed New York using a 5 x 7 view camera and later a twin-lens reflex camera. His photographs, many of which were taken through his shop window, document the lives and politics of ordinary New Yorkers. He is best known for his Depression-era portraiture of New York's poor and working class people. His first one- man show was staged by the Museum of the City of New York in 1938. His 1982 retrospective, "Tailored Images," opened on the same site just two days before his death.

This small sampling of Albok's work includes images from 1930s May Day Parades, the 1939 World's Fair, 1960s Labor Day Parades, 1960s Peace Demonstrations, and a portrait of a plumber at work.