©Martha Cooper
©Martha Cooper

The urge to scrawl on a wall is probably older than the Pyramids, but nobody really knows the exact origins of street-art graffiti, the style that virtually took over New York in the 1970s and 1980s.

Pictured: Donald "Dondi" White, Children of the Grave Again, Part 3 subway mural

Graffiti art: A brief history of the controversial form

From the battlefields of World War II to the 21st-century 5 train, Time Out tracks the evolution of graffiti art.

Advertising

Graffiti art has become synonymous with the creativity and grit of New York between the ’60s and the Koch years, immortalized in films like Wild Style and Style Wars. We trace this form of expression from the 1940s to the 21st century.

RECOMMENDED: Street art and graffiti guide

Recommended
    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising