4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2013.

Harlem River, Winter

Artist Ernest Lawson (American, 1873-1939)

CultureAmerican

Date1910

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm)
Overall, Frame: 51 5/8 x 61 5/8 x 2 1/2 in. (131.1 x 156.5 x 6.4 cm)

InscribedSigned lower right: E. LAWSON

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.673

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 218

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. The viewer is placed up high on a hillside covered with snow looking down on Harlem. There is snow everywhere and peeking through are glimpses of a winter landscape. The trees, rocks, and buildings in the distance seem to share the same colors in the cool winter light. The lower left corner holds the strongest contrast of light and dark. As the hillside moves upward diagonally, to the center right of the canvas, the contrast fades as it merges into the grayish blue of a winter sky.

Label TextErnest Lawson American, 1873–1939 Harlem River, Winter, 1910 Oil on canvas To render the gritty layers of earth and snow in this rocky landscape, Ernest Lawson juxtaposed dense blotches of paint with patches of exposed canvas. Just as the French Impressionists often studied the dirty streets of Paris, Lawson’s largest paintings explore Manhattan’s northern tip, a world of barren trees and tenement buildings. His mastery of color, seen in this painting’s beautiful gold and violet tones, made such unattractive subjects popular and profitable. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.673 ProvenancePurchased from the 1913 Armory Show by C. M. Lincoln; Anna Lincoln Ames, Montclair, N. J.; James Van Dyk; E. and A. Milch, Inc., New York, N. Y., 1957; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"International Exhibition of Modern Art [The Armory Show]," circulated to Armory of the Sixty-ninth Regiment, New York, N.Y., February 17 - March 15, 1913; Art Institute of Chicago, Ill., March 24 - April 15, 1913; Copley Hall, Copley Society of Boston, Mass., April 28 - May 18, 1913. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island. "One Hundred and Twenty-second Annual," Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pa., 1927. "the World of Art in 1910," The Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, La., November 15 - December 31, 1960. "The Controversial Century, 1850-1950, Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Provincetown, Mass., June 16 - September 3, 1962; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, September 28 - November 4, 1962. (Exh. cat. not paged) "The Armory Show," New York, N. Y., 1963. (Exh. cat. p. 194) ACA Heritage Gallery, Inc., New York, N. Y., 1967. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. (Exh. cat. p. 177) "Ernest Lawson Retrospective," ACA Galleries, New York, N. Y., November 27 - December 24, 1976. (Exh. cat. no. 12) "The Shock of Modernism in America: The Eight and Artists of the Armory Show," Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York, N. Y., April 29 - July 29, 1984. (Exh. cat. no. 61) "The Armory Show at 100," New-York Historical Society, New York, October 11, 2013 - February 23, 2014.Published References_The World of Art in 1910_, exh.cat., The Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, La., 1960, not paged. Charles F. Comfort and William S.A. Dale, _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_, exh. cat., Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Provincetown, Mass., 1962, not paged. Henry and Sidney Berry-Hill, _Ernest Lawson: American Impressionist, 1873-1939_ (Leigh-on-Sea, England: F. Lewis, Publishers, Ltd., 1968), 30, fig. 31. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 177. _Ernest Lawson: Retrospective_, exh. cat., ACA Galleries, New York, N.Y., 1976, 6, 34, no. 12. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 94. Constance H. Schwartz, _The Shock of Modernism in America: The Eight and Artists of the Armory Show_ (Roslyn Harbor, N.Y.: Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, 1984), no. 61. Joyce M. Szabo, "American Art - 1875-1913" _Gallery Guide_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1986), no. 14. Valerie Ann Leeds, _Ernest Lawson_, exh. cat., Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, N.Y., 2000, 23, fig. 4. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 150-151, no. 93. Marilyn Satin Kushner and Kimberly Orcutt, eds., _The Armory Show at 100: Modernism and Revolution_ (New York: New-York Historical Society, in association with D. Giles Limited, London, 2013) 247, fig. 186.