St. Paul's Chapel 1914

Rachael Robinson Elmer created this postcard image of St. Paul’s Chapel sometime in the early 20th century, probably using watercolors or gouache. The way the colors layer suggests Elmer was thinking about the process of building up an image, bit by bit. See how she used flat, opaque colors, almost like cut paper? It's playful and a little naive. Look at the way she renders the shadows on the buildings – simple blocks of grey and brown. There's something almost cartoonish about it, like the early color animations of the time. And yet, the way she captures the light hitting the chapel, the way she suggests the density of the surrounding city, it’s really quite sophisticated. You can almost feel the hustle and bustle of old New York, even in this tiny image. It brings to mind the work of the Post-Impressionist painter, Pierre Bonnard, especially in the flattened perspective and the emphasis on decorative patterning. What do you think?