Cityscape

Abraham Walkowitz, Cityscape, 1913, pencil and graphite pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in memory of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, 1973.71.2
Copied Abraham Walkowitz, Cityscape, 1913, pencil and graphite pencil on paper, sheet: 20 x 13 in. (50.8 x 33.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in memory of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, 1973.71.2

Artwork Details

Title
Cityscape
Artist
Date
1913
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 20 x 13 in. (50.8 x 33.0 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist in memory of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Mediums
Mediums Description
pencil and graphite pencil on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape
  • Abstract
Object Number
1973.71.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1973.71.2

Artwork Description

In Cityscape, Abraham Walkowitz half abandons representation, employing sinuous lines and repeated forms to capture New York's dynamism. The amorphous shapes at the drawing's base suggest buzzing streets, with bold strokes shooting upwards to form window-speckled towers. A pioneer among modernist artists in the United States, Walkowitz had emigrated from Russia with his family in 1883 to escape pogroms, campaigns of violence and genocide against Jews. They settled in New York City, and Walkowitz studied art at the National Academy of Design. While training later in Paris, he encountered new artistic directions like cubism, then helped introduce these provocative abstract possibilities to the United States. In 1913, the same year as this drawing's creation, he exhibited ten works in New York's Armory Show of contemporary art, alongside Childe Hassam, John Sloan, and John Marin.