Curling - Delivering. Photographer: Paul Thompson

What do a cat shopping for Christmas presents, a snow buried car and some shivering NYC pigeons have in common? Not much aside from their obvious "winter" theme, but they are all part of the fascinating digital archive put online earlier this year by the New York Public Library. While curating our latest group show, Winter Pictures over the past few weeks, one favorite distraction was rabbit-holing it down this maze of historical photographic tangents, so we thought it would be fitting to cull a collection of our favorite cold, discordant gems - a series "b-sides" to the exhibition. Enjoy.

Mark Morrisroe

Untitled (Janet with Cat), 1985/1996, chromogenic print (negative sandwich) retouched with ink, 16 x 11 in. (sheet), 4.25 x 3.25 inches (image), © Estate of Mark Morrisroe [Ringier Collection], Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Mark Morrisroe

Pat Hearn Reclining, 1982, chromogenic print (negative sandwich) retouched with ink, 14 x 11 in. (sheet), © Estate of Mark Morrisroe [Ringier Collection], Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Mark Morrisroe

Untitled (Flower Study), c.1986, Photogram, 10 x 8 inches (sheet), © Estate of Mark Morrisroe [Ringier Collection], Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Mark Morrisroe

I Dream Of Jeanne (Stephen Tashjian's Head), 1983-4, chromogenic print (negative sandwich) retouched with ink, 20 x 16 in. (sheet), © Estate of Mark Morrisroe [Ringier Collection], Fotomuseum Winterthur.

The title of the exhibition, Hello from Bertha, refers to a signature image by the artist from 1983-4, which is a “promotional still” for Morrisroe’s Super 8 film of the same name, which itself “was a trashy drag drama based on the eponymous 1946 Tennessee Williams one-act play about a dying, penniless prostitute in a low-class bordello.”[Stuart Comer]

Down The Rabbit Hole: Old Winter Photographs from the NYPL Digital Archive

Mark Morrisroe's Hello from Bertha at Clamp Art