The Emerald Tower
Isabel Lydia Whitney
American Art
Modernizing the Urban Landscape
By the late 1920s, signs of modernization and industrialization were intruding on the residential neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, where Isabel Lydia Whitney grew up. The Emerald Tower and The Blue Peter are part of a series of works Whitney painted about 1927 of the changing area. Exhibited in 1928, the series was praised for its honest depiction of the American scene and “the poignancy of transition.”
In The Emerald Tower, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge is relegated to the far distance, and the painting is dominated instead by the new Squibb building, part of a manufacturing plant for a pharmaceutical company. The masts, smokestacks, and rigging seen in The Blue Peter hint at the encroachment of waterfront commerce.
By the late 1920s, signs of modernization and industrialization were intruding on the residential neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, where Isabel Lydia Whitney grew up. The Emerald Tower and The Blue Peter are part of a series of works Whitney painted about 1927 of the changing area. Exhibited in 1928, the series was praised for its honest depiction of the American scene and “the poignancy of transition.”
In The Emerald Tower, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge is relegated to the far distance, and the painting is dominated instead by the new Squibb building, part of a manufacturing plant for a pharmaceutical company. The masts, smokestacks, and rigging seen in The Blue Peter hint at the encroachment of waterfront commerce.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1927–1928
DIMENSIONS
24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Frame: 27 x 21 x 2 in. (68.6 x 53.3 x 5.1 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower right: "Isabel Whitney"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
54.18
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Mrs. James H. Hayes
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Brooklyn Heights, circa 1927. Squibb Building at night, lighted by indirect method. Brooklyn Bridge in distance, carrying lighted train. View down Columbia Heights toward Fulton Ferry. Believed to be the first use of indirect lighting in Greater New York. [comments from donor, 1954]
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Isabel Lydia Whitney (American, 1884–1962). The Emerald Tower, 1927–1928. Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. James H. Hayes, 54.18 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 54.18_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 54.18_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Orphaned work
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