New York, New York

The Mermelsteins are exhibited together in the atrium space that's separated from the rest of the show. These eighteen photos of wreckage -- trees hung with boots, sidewalks caked in dust -- could easily carry the exhibit all by themselves, giving you some idea of just how good Street Level really is, especially considering that the other part of the show is even better.

Zalkind's Street Level is straightforward, yet it tells the story of New York street photography dramatically, as though it were a sweeping epic, which, I guess, it was. He sets the photographers in the foreground of the show, and then he puts the big forces of history just behind them. As a result of Zalkind's efforts and insights, he's produced an art exhibit that's simultaneously informative and entertaining, and, as I hardly need to point out, that makes Street Level a real accomplishment.