New York, No. 1
Artist: Hedda Sterne (American (born Romania), 1910-2011)
Date: 1954
Dimensions:
83 3/16 x 50 1/4 in. (219 x 127.3 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Object number: 1957.29
Label Text:The unmistakable shape of the Brooklyn Bridge dominates this powerful meditation on New York City. Hedda Sterne, one of the few women associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement, painted this canvas as part of a series completed around 1954 exploring different aspects of the city. New York, No. 1 waivers between abstraction and representation, and Sterne uses the bold, painterly strokes of black and blue-gray to convey actual New York landmarks as well as the dynamic, kinetic, and dominating feeling of this intensely urban environment. She places the hard, harsh lines of the Brooklyn Bridge in the lower half of the painting, thrusting into the viewer’s space. Above, however, the shapes are less defined, and a skyline of sorts is only dimly and intermittently visible through the soft grayish haze. By composing the painting in this way, Sterne plays with multiple painting traditions, both new and old.
On view
In Collection(s)