New York 1911

Here is a watercolor called New York by Abraham Walkowitz. I imagine it came into being with some soft brushes and a whole lot of water. It’s a cityscape made up of blues and whites. Look at the way the buildings sort of shimmer and dissolve. There are lots of little dabs and marks, and the paint is thin. I can imagine the artist being out and about in the city, taking it all in, then back in the studio, trying to capture the feeling of being overwhelmed by all those skyscrapers. What must that have been like? That crowd of scribbles at the bottom makes me think of swarms of people on the street. It's like he’s trying to wrangle with the feeling of being just one person in a huge metropolis. Walkowitz was part of the same artistic circles as people like Marin, and it's interesting to see how different artists depict similar themes. It just goes to show you, the conversations between painters never really end.