Finest Fillet on Front Street

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$350    unframed    11”h x 15”

Front and Beekman streets when the Fulton Fish Market was in operation at the Seaport. Journeymen delivered seafood, buyers’ trucks awaited them, men cut and sold fish, and Carmine’s Bar was open all night for market workers.

The challenge was to achieve an intense area of light surrounded by darkened buildings without losing detail or color in either. –N.R. 

South and Beekman streets, where snow never stopped the old open air Fulton Fish Market. In 2005 the Market moved to an indoor facility at Hunts Point in the Bronx.

Tall skyscrapers rising behind small foreground buildings identify the location of the scene and add dimension and scale. An active snowfall imbues the scene with a sense of timelessness. –N.R.

Snowfall on the Corner

Limited edition giclee © Naima Rauam

$350    unframed    11”h x 17 ”w

This building on the corner of Front and Dover streets, within the Seaport Historic District next to the Brooklyn Bridge, has housed several bars and restaurants (within recent memory: Jeremy’s Ale House, Cheryl’s, Radio Mexico, Belle De Jour, Cowgirl Sea-Horse).

I was moved to do this watercolor as a remembrance of Radio Mexico, where neighborhood “regulars” gathered. Its closing came suddenly one cold winter day. I wanted to convey warmth and coziness. –N.R.

Front Street by the Bridge

Limited edition giclee © Naima Rauam

$350    unframed    15”h x 11”w

Looking east toward Brooklyn. Beekman and South streets were the center of the Fulton Fish Market when it was in lower Manhattan, along the banks of the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge a near neighbor.

I took artist’s license and removed the elevated highway along South Street to reveal buildings and bustling activity around them. I delighted in putting the “Wiz” heaving a cod onto his cutting table, seen through the top-floor window, left. –N.R.

Dawn on Beekman Street

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$350    unframed    11”h x 15”

Looking down Beekman Street toward the historic Tin Building on South Street on a busy night at the old Fulton Fish Market. Beekman served as a parking area for buyers’ trucks, awaiting journeymen who delivered purchased fish.

I took much artist’s license, removing the elevated highway along South Street and replacing the current Fulton Market building with its one-story predecessor (right). –N.R.

Old Beekman Street

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$350    unframed    11”h x 15”

Looking west on Beekman Street. This became a loading zone for buyers’ trucks when the Fulton Fish Market was in operation at the Seaport. On nights when the granite paving stones were covered in snow, it often took two men to push a hand truck heavy with fish.

I was caught by the drama of dark figures receding up the street, still part of the night’s darkness even when passing through the oases of light shed by overhead street lamps. –N.R.

Snow on Beekman Street

Limited edition giclee © Naima Rauam

$350    unframed    15”h x 11”w

Carmine’s Bar & Grill on the corner of Beekman and Front was a local landmark from the 1930s to 2010. Started as an all-night bar for men from the nearby Fulton Fish Market, the restaurant came to serve the Wall Street crowd in its last decades. The 1824 building is reputed to have housed a speakeasy on its upper floors during Prohibition.

I love old buildings and the layers of history etched into their worn facades. I want to convey a strong sense of time and people past. I often draw on my first encounters with the Seaport in the 1960s, when streets were deserted and buildings neglected. –N.R.

Carmine’s Bar & Grill

Limited edition giclee © Naima Rauam

$350    unframed    11”h x 15”