Improvisations of New York

Abraham Walkowitz

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Executed at a time when Abraham Walkowitz was experimenting with modernist abstraction, Improvisations of New York captures the frenetic energy of the city through the dynamic handling of the ink. Angled and squiggled lines evoke the vertical thrust of skyscrapers soaring above the crowded street, suggested by a denser concentration of strokes at the bottom of the composition.

Caption

Abraham Walkowitz American, born Russia, 1878–1965. Improvisations of New York, 1914. Ink on cream, thin, smooth wove paper mounted to paper., Sheet (drawing): 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. (26.7 x 18.4 cm) Sheet (backing paper): 10 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (27.3 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Carl L. Selden, 1996.157.31. Orphaned work (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.157.31_PS6.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Improvisations of New York

Date

1914

Medium

Ink on cream, thin, smooth wove paper mounted to paper.

Classification

Drawing

Dimensions

Sheet (drawing): 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. (26.7 x 18.4 cm) Sheet (backing paper): 10 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (27.3 x 19.1 cm)

Signatures

Signed in ink, lower left, on mount: "A. WALKOWITZ 1914"

Credit Line

Bequest of Mrs. Carl L. Selden

Accession Number

1996.157.31

Rights

Orphaned work

After diligent research, the Museum is unable to locate contact information for the artist or artist's estate, or there are no known living heirs.Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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