Subway Art by Martha Cooper (1984, Paperback)

Beautiful color photos throughout the book.
Her documentation on that area's graffiti culture is unsurpassed.
Martha Cooper is this art culture's legend. Her tenacity and dedication to this form shines forth on every page.


This is my fifth copy I have bought so far. I study it as if I were learning hymns from a bible. It is a resource as much as it is history of the art to me.
It has inspired me to take on the street art scene here in my own city. I have accumulated 1000's and 1000's of photos of graffiti in my hometown and surrounding areas myself. If I ever do a book or not the fact remains that Martha Cooper simply rocks!

~Ted General Jr.

Great book that captures the essence of graffiti's roots in NYC. Very high quality shots & great layout as are all of Martha Cooper projects. Highly recomended!

if you need to be reading a review to decide if you should buy this, then stop, throw away your paint and give it up for good

There are those who remember 1970s and 1980s graffiti as a curse on the train system. There are others who think of it as free-flowing art. Young people of the big cities spray-painted their names and creative designs all over subway cars in New York and many other places; they used trains as an unapproved canvas because everyone would see them. This book features hundreds of full-color photographs of the murals and tags of the day. The coverage is very comprehensive and you'll get to know the people and groups responsible. This book deposits you right in the scene and lets you suspend your disbelief so that you can see what made the graffiti artists tick--set aside for a moment your thoughts about sanitation and the legal end of it, and learn the ins and outs of their bold and witty styles. I grew up in New York at the time, and this book makes it as real as yesterday.