United States

For Marin, New York’s geometric architecture and kinetic street life epitomized the abstract principles of modern European art movements. The vantage point in this picture, looking from Brooklyn across the East River toward lower Manhattan, was popular with artists who could juxtapose the 19th-century Brooklyn Bridge with the city’s 20th-century skyscrapers. Marin’s scene boldly declares the spiritual dimensions of the entire urban landscape on both sides of the bridge.

For Marin, New York’s geometric architecture and kinetic street life epitomized the abstract principles of modern European art movements. The vantage point in this picture, looking from Brooklyn across the East River toward lower Manhattan, was popular with artists who could juxtapose the 19th-century Brooklyn Bridge with the city’s 20th-century skyscrapers. Marin’s scene boldly declares the spiritual dimensions of the entire urban landscape on both sides of the bridge.

In the winter of 1916–1917, Hartley traveled to Bermuda, where he was joined by the artist Charles Demuth. During this period, Hartley painted simplified still lifes, including the work seen here. The format is straightforward: an arrangement of fruit and one flower stands before an open window. In the bay visible beyond, a boat with pink sails surges through an aquamarine sea. Using rich, saturated colors, the artist created broad fields of color broken only by subtly patterned brushwork.

Bellows taught a life drawing class at the Art Students League of New York in 1910—presumably the students in this class were asked to paint nude models. The quick execution of this painting is recorded by the rich, broad strokes that define the figure’s back, and the single stroke that makes up the calf and heel of the figure’s right leg. Supposedly, this work was a demonstration piece for Bellows’ students, and it shows the artist’s intimate knowledge of anatomy and masterful technique.

Bellows taught a life drawing class at the Art Students League of New York in 1910—presumably the students in this class were asked to paint nude models. The quick execution of this painting is recorded by the rich, broad strokes that define the figure’s back, and the single stroke that makes up the calf and heel of the figure’s right leg. Supposedly, this work was a demonstration piece for Bellows’ students, and it shows the artist’s intimate knowledge of anatomy and masterful technique.

At first glance this painting appears to be a study in gray, black, and white. Upon close looking, however, muted colors appear: pinks, browns, purples, greens, and blues. At the center of the painting sits a man cradling a cello. However, he holds no bow; the cello is silent. Although Dickinson denied a narrative or symbolic meaning, some art historians believe that the painting reflects the artist’s sense of loss following his brother’s death by suicide more than a decade earlier.

At first glance this painting appears to be a study in gray, black, and white. Upon close looking, however, muted colors appear: pinks, browns, purples, greens, and blues. At the center of the painting sits a man cradling a cello. However, he holds no bow; the cello is silent. Although Dickinson denied a narrative or symbolic meaning, some art historians believe that the painting reflects the artist’s sense of loss following his brother’s death by suicide more than a decade earlier.

Lower Manhattan is one of the first paintings Grosz executed after moving to the United States. This scene captures the energy and promise of New York City as seen from New York Harbor, the entryway to his new life and the haven from the ominous backdrop of life in his native Berlin, where he was known for his cynical political caricatures. The move to the United States helped Grosz explore new artistic avenues, and the grandeur of the modern metropolis pushed him in exciting new directions.

Lower Manhattan is one of the first paintings Grosz executed after moving to the United States. This scene captures the energy and promise of New York City as seen from New York Harbor, the entryway to his new life and the haven from the ominous backdrop of life in his native Berlin, where he was known for his cynical political caricatures. The move to the United States helped Grosz explore new artistic avenues, and the grandeur of the modern metropolis pushed him in exciting new directions.

By the 1920s Stettheimer developed her own take on still-life painting; her “eyegays” feature tabletop floral arrangements as the means for exploring the effects of her brilliant palette. In 1946 the critic Henry McBride commented that “the blossoms in her vases wriggled upward with a whimsicality in the stems.” In this work, Stettheimer used bold, vibrating colors to animate a bowl of phlox, a perennial wildflower.