Suburban Apartments

Lloyd Goff, Suburban Apartments, 1934, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.155
Copied Lloyd Goff, Suburban Apartments, 1934, oil on fiberboard, 24 1⁄8 x 30 1⁄4 in. (61.2 x 76.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.155

Artwork Details

Title
Suburban Apartments
Artist
Date
1934
Location
Dimensions
24 1⁄8 x 30 1⁄4 in. (61.2 x 76.8 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Cityscape — street
  • Landscape — season — winter
  • Travel — land — automobile
  • New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — New York City
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — apartment
Object Number
1964.1.155
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1964.1.155

Artwork Description

Lloyd Goff painted Suburban Apartments for the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a New Deal program created by the federal government to give financial and moral support to American artists during the Great Depression. Artists were encouraged to go out and paint "the American Scene," meaning they should record the look and feel of the country. Suburban Apartments shows apartment buildings in the Washington Heights section of New York City. We do not know much about Goff’s motivation for this painting. However, it may be that he romanticized the depiction of a quiet, safe neighborhood, which appears here protected in a blanket of snow to produce a more pleasing impression.