From Brooklyn Heights 1925

George Ault conjured this scene of Brooklyn Heights with oil on canvas. Look at the skyline, with those heavy grey blocks which might suggest buildings. I can imagine Ault, like me in my studio, coaxing a feeling out of inert matter. Working with a limited palette of muted greys, blacks, and reds, he's built up the image with precise, geometric forms. The paint is applied smoothly, without much texture, giving the scene a hard-edged, almost eerie stillness. The eye travels down and around to the buildings and train-tracks in the foreground. I bet he was inspired by the clean lines of Cubism, and Precisionism but with a more melancholic mood. And there is a dialogue between his work and other urban realists like Edward Hopper. Painters, we’re all in this conversation together.