Untitled, from the series "Gem Spa"

Aaron Rose worked for more than a half century as a photographer, but he rarely exhibited or sold his work. One of his many idiosyncrasies was that he kept only one finished print from any negative, thus upending the democratic nature of his chosen medium. He died in February 2021 reportedly with some 25,000 unique photographic prints in his studio. This still little-known master of American street portraiture studied privately with Lisette Model, the teacher of many artists, including Diane Arbus.

In 2018, Rose donated to The Met all sixty-three prints from his Gem Spa series (1968–69), titled after the now-shuttered candy shop and underground newspaper stand located at the corner of St. Marks Place and Second Avenue. The joint first became a destination for the Beats in the late 1950s, then the hippies in the 1960s; sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic ended its run in 2020.