4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2016.

Sunset, New York Bay

Artist Edward Moran (American, 1829-1901)

Date1872

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions18 1/8 x 36 in. (46 x 91.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 24 3/16 × 42 1/8 × 1 3/4 in. (61.4 × 107 × 4.4 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.791

Terms

Harbor
New York
Yellow
Blue
Black
White
Mauve
New York

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of several sail boats on the water in the morning light. Three boats gather in on the right side, off center. The sun comes up behind a lighthouse, which casts a yellow glow over the entire scene. The lighthouse depicted is probably Robbins Reef, situated in Upper New York Bay between Staten Island and Brooklyn.

Label TextEdward Moran American (1829-1901) Sunset, New York Bay, 1872 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.791 The older brother of Western landscapist Thomas Moran, Edward Moran spent most of his career in New York City. Beginning in the early 1870s, he produced a series of New York harbor scenes-among them Sunset, New York Bay-that document the expansion of that bustling port in the decades following the Civil War. In these paintings Moran was influenced particularly by the landscapes of Sanford Gifford and his fellow Luminists. The heavy, light-filled atmosphere and gentle, poetic tone of the Chrysler's twilight scene owe much to the Luminists' art. Silhouetted against the setting sun, the lighthouse at the center of the painting is Robbins Reef, situated in Upper New York Bay between Staten Island and Brooklyn. To the left of Robbins Reef, just visible in the distance, is Manhattan itself.