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Lot Essay
Ernest Lawson likely painted the present work just after the turn of the 19th Century, when he and other members of The Eight created their most dramatic images of urban America. Like his fellow Ashcan painters and many American Impressionists who preceded him, Lawson was fascinated by the modern American city and the lives of the people who inhabited it. In the present work, the artist depicts the city at a moment when its frantic urban pace is slowed by a heavy snowfall. Lawson selects a commercial part of the city, a snow-covered square whose open expanse and 19th-century buildings grace the city sky. Just visible through the wintry haze is the tower of Madison Square Garden, since demolished. Near the center of the composition, Lawson depicts bustling foot traffic, horse-drawn cabs and a bus or trolley.
As if describing the present scene, Aschan painter John Sloan recorded in his diary on January 8th and 9th, 1906; “The first snowstorm, about two inches fell today. This evening George B. Fox and Ernest Lawson to dinner. Talk of the exhibition next year…” and “Worked in evening and night. Dolly read to me as I made one more drawing for “Idella.” A clear, very cold day, and the streets very beautiful with snow. Madison Square at dusk with lights and snow. The old Fifth Avenue Hotel as seen across the snow covered place, the electrical signs against the western sky looking down 23rd Street from 6th Avenue.”
As an early meditation of street life and the urban landscape, the present work recalls other Ashcan canvases of New York, such as Robert Henri's Snow in New York (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). This work likewise proclaims its Ashcan heritage with its richly painted surface and emphasis on city dwellers within the urban milieu. Lawson has developed here a narrow tonal range of whites, blues and greens. Highlights have been added with touches of warmer-toned reds, seen especially in the vehicle at center, and browns, seen in the horses and their carriages. This subtle mixture of colors and bold painting technique is the hallmark of Lawson's style.
As if describing the present scene, Aschan painter John Sloan recorded in his diary on January 8th and 9th, 1906; “The first snowstorm, about two inches fell today. This evening George B. Fox and Ernest Lawson to dinner. Talk of the exhibition next year…” and “Worked in evening and night. Dolly read to me as I made one more drawing for “Idella.” A clear, very cold day, and the streets very beautiful with snow. Madison Square at dusk with lights and snow. The old Fifth Avenue Hotel as seen across the snow covered place, the electrical signs against the western sky looking down 23rd Street from 6th Avenue.”
As an early meditation of street life and the urban landscape, the present work recalls other Ashcan canvases of New York, such as Robert Henri's Snow in New York (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). This work likewise proclaims its Ashcan heritage with its richly painted surface and emphasis on city dwellers within the urban milieu. Lawson has developed here a narrow tonal range of whites, blues and greens. Highlights have been added with touches of warmer-toned reds, seen especially in the vehicle at center, and browns, seen in the horses and their carriages. This subtle mixture of colors and bold painting technique is the hallmark of Lawson's style.