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
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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
- Architecture Exterior — domestic — apartment
- New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — New York City
- Travel — land — automobile
- Landscape — season — winter
- Cityscape — street
- Figure group
- Object Number
- 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.