Shortly before World War I, a growing number of prospering Eastern European Jewish Immigrants left the crowded tenements of the Lower East Side for modern apartment buildings in Brooklyn, upper Manhattan, or the Bronx, where the tailor Jacob Gottfried, the subject of this portrait, set up shop. A trained chemist, Richard Lyon turned to photography because he was unable to find work during the Depression. As a member of the New York Photo League from 1936 to 1940, Lyon was part of Aaron Siskind's Feature Group, which was responsible for important photographic projects such as the Harlem Document.