Virtuoso watercolorist Frederick Brosen has been wandering the streets of New York City for most of his life. His paintings capture a city void of urban bustle and noise, a "still" New York in every sense of the word.

Brosen knows the city's hidden jewels^__the elegant statues in vest-pocket West Side parks, the terra-cotta ornamentation on Harlem bow-front row houses, and the haunting emptiness of the surviving cast-iron market buildings along the Hudson. He also knows its major landmarks^__old St. Patrick's, Grand Central Station, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, to name but a few. Alongside Brosen's luminous paintings, best-selling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker Ric Burns and New York Times journalist Alan Feuer retrace the origins and growth of this ever-changing city from Tribeca and SoHo through Midtown and Central Park, and up to the Cloisters, revealing^__with Brosen's watercolors^__its favorite places and hidden treasures.

About the Contributor(s)

Ric Burns is a lifelong New Yorker. His books and television productions include New York: An Illustrated History and The Civil War.

Alan Feuer has been a staff writer at the New York Times since 1999.

Frederick Brosen is an artist with many exhibitions to his credit. His watercolors are in the collections of major museums.