Delmonico Building
Artist
Charles Sheeler
(American, 1883 - 1965)
Date1927
MediumLithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall: 15 3/8 x 11 5/16in. (39.1 x 28.7cm)
Image: 9 3/4 x 6 11/16in. (24.8 x 17cm)
Image: 9 3/4 x 6 11/16in. (24.8 x 17cm)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Credit LineGift of Edward W. Root
Terms
Object number53.354
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightOrphaned work.
Label TextDelmonico’s was a popular New York City restaurant in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It closed during Prohibition due to a loss of patronage. The building, on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street, was razed and in its place rose the 36-story Central Mercantile Bank Building. So famous was the restaurant, however, the new structure was referred to as “The Delmonico Building,” as in the title of Charles Sheeler’s lithograph.
Sheeler emphasized the height of the newly constructed skyscraper by depicting it from sidewalk level looking up (and up and up). He also focused on a blank white wall rather than the building’s ornamented façade, the details of which could have distracted the viewer’s attention from appreciating the striking angle of ascent.
[source: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History / The Metropolitan Museum of Art]
Mary E. Murray
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
2017
