Lot Essay
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View of Manhattan from the Terminal Yards, Weehawken, New Jersey, oil on canvas, 36 x 48in., Private Collection
Terminal Yards, oil on canvas, 46 x 53in., Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, Gift of Mrs. Arthur Jerome Eddy
Born in New York City in 1884, Leon Kroll studied at both the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League and then at the Academie Julien in Paris, gaining exposure to the latest art trends and finding inspiration in the work of Cezanne and Renoir. Although the artist is known mostly for landscapes and figural paintings, Leon Kroll's West Shore Terminal is characteristic of the cityscapes and industrial scenes that the artist painted in the early years of his career.
West Shore Terminal is one of three views that Kroll painted in 1913 of the Terminal Yards in Weehawken, New Jersey. The largest of these works, Terminal Yards (Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan), was exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show and was acquired there by Arthur Jerome Eddy.
Reflecting the current artistic interest in urban scenes and the rapid developments in transportation, this work of 1913 depicts a bustling train yard in winter. Painted from a snow-covered hillside, the composition leads down towards the station over the Hudson River and finally to the west side of Manhattan. As in Max Kuehne's Brooklyn Bridge in Winter, Kroll has included numerous trains bursting with large white clouds of steam - an unquestionable tribute to the progress of industry.
In an Impressionist manner, Kroll has softened the cold, metallic edge of transportation with a layer of fresh white snow. Both American and European artists of this period frequently depicted cityscapes in winter to alleviate the harsh and inhuman qualities of urban life. A very suggestive rendering of the New York skyline in the upper portion of the painting also enhances the picturesque quality of the scene.
An early fascination with trains continued throughout Kroll's life, prompting him to recall, "I also loved to go to Park Avenue to watch the trains. They all seemed very wonderful to me, those things, and they took me away from my ordinary life into another kind of thinking and feeling..." (F. Bowers and N. Hale (ed.), Leon Kroll: A Spoken Memoir, 1983, p. 4)
View of Manhattan from the Terminal Yards, Weehawken, New Jersey, oil on canvas, 36 x 48in., Private Collection
Terminal Yards, oil on canvas, 46 x 53in., Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, Gift of Mrs. Arthur Jerome Eddy
Born in New York City in 1884, Leon Kroll studied at both the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League and then at the Academie Julien in Paris, gaining exposure to the latest art trends and finding inspiration in the work of Cezanne and Renoir. Although the artist is known mostly for landscapes and figural paintings, Leon Kroll's West Shore Terminal is characteristic of the cityscapes and industrial scenes that the artist painted in the early years of his career.
West Shore Terminal is one of three views that Kroll painted in 1913 of the Terminal Yards in Weehawken, New Jersey. The largest of these works, Terminal Yards (Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan), was exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show and was acquired there by Arthur Jerome Eddy.
Reflecting the current artistic interest in urban scenes and the rapid developments in transportation, this work of 1913 depicts a bustling train yard in winter. Painted from a snow-covered hillside, the composition leads down towards the station over the Hudson River and finally to the west side of Manhattan. As in Max Kuehne's Brooklyn Bridge in Winter, Kroll has included numerous trains bursting with large white clouds of steam - an unquestionable tribute to the progress of industry.
In an Impressionist manner, Kroll has softened the cold, metallic edge of transportation with a layer of fresh white snow. Both American and European artists of this period frequently depicted cityscapes in winter to alleviate the harsh and inhuman qualities of urban life. A very suggestive rendering of the New York skyline in the upper portion of the painting also enhances the picturesque quality of the scene.
An early fascination with trains continued throughout Kroll's life, prompting him to recall, "I also loved to go to Park Avenue to watch the trains. They all seemed very wonderful to me, those things, and they took me away from my ordinary life into another kind of thinking and feeling..." (F. Bowers and N. Hale (ed.), Leon Kroll: A Spoken Memoir, 1983, p. 4)