Cityscape

Artist Joseph Stella (American, 1877 - 1946)

Date1918-1924

MediumColored pencil on tan-colored wove paper

DimensionsOverall: 4 1/2 x 6 3/4in. (11.4 x 17.1cm)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Credit LineGift of Edward W. Root, by exchange

Terms

20th Century

Object number94.21

On View

Not on view

Collections

Drawings

CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.

Label TextStella was infatuated with the noise, light, and speed of New York City. He found a pictorial equivalent for the optimism of modern urban life in the painting styles of the French and Italian avant-garde, particularly the work of Gino Severini (1883-1966), whose cubist-inspired "Futurist" style he successfully assimilated. Like numerous artists in Europe and America, Stella's art became more conservative following the disillusioning experience of the First World War. The museum's drawing is an example of Stella's renunciation of modernist form and color in favor of realistic representations of the city, which he rendered without social comment, or the religious or sexual symbolism of his later works. MEM