Description: About this work: An exceptional, large, early work by American artist Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984). This painting was recently exhibited at Gracie Mansion in 2019 as part of “She Persists” - a show dedicated to women artists in NYC over the past century. In her review of the exhibition in Artnet News, Eleanor Heartney describes this work: “New York reappears at its most life enhancing in Dorothy Eisner’s Washington Square Park (1938), a painting centering on the Square’s famous fountain. Water erupts and cascades over children splashing in the pool while adults on the periphery enjoy the sun. Historical circumstances give the work added resonance: At the time this work was created the fountain had just been restored by Robert Moses who was simultaneously pushing to bisect the park with one of his controversial highways. As a vocal opponent of this plan, Eisner here offers an image of the conviviality that Moses’s dreams of automotive dominion would have destroyed.” This work is oil on canvas and is signed and dated in the lower right. It is housed in an appropriate period frame. Works by Eisner of this scale, period, quality, and importance are exceedingly scarce. Size: 30 inches tall by 40 inches wide (painting) 40.5 inches tall by 50.5 inches wide (frame) Exhibited: “She Persists: A Century of Woman Artists in New York”, 2019-2020, Gracie Mansion, New York (illustrated in catalogue) Provenance: Private collection, NY; The Green-Wood Historic Fund, NY (deaccessioned in 2022); Acquired from the above About the artist: Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984) was an American painter whose career spanned more than seven decades. She studied at the Art Students League from 1925-29 with Boardman Robinson, Kenneth Hayes Miller and Thomas Hart Benton. She worked constantly on her own track, with occasional explorations of fields or ‘schools’ of art through most of the twentieth century, in her studio in Greenwich Village, in the mountains of North Carolina, the valleys and rivers of Montana, and the coast of Maine. Her paintings reflect both her own past and her passionate interest in all art. Dorothy Eisner was born in 1906 and became dedicated to drawing and painting for life at the outset of the 1920s. By the 1930s, a period when women artists found it difficult to achieve recognition, she exhibited frequently and was an active participant in the New York art community. Her close circle of friends included Walker Evans who she painted in the forties, as he photographed her work in the sixties. In 1937, she traveled to Coyoacán, Mexico, with a number of American intellectuals on the anti-Stalinist left, to participate in the American philosopher John Dewey’s Commission of Inquiry into the charges made against Trotsky in the Moscow Trials. She painted two portraits of Trotsky as well as a painting of the entire Commission – including Trotsky and the celebrated Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. She wrote that she was never a ‘social realist,’ but ‘did still lifes and lifes not so still.’ After the War, she worked with Jack Tworkov and experimented with abstract expressionism. She found her vision as an artist in the 1970s and 1980s with boldly expressed and brilliantly colorful works. Condition: Very good overall condition. Minor scattered surface accretions. Surface craquelure commensurate with age. Small crack/loss to frame element lower right along with other scattered losses and wear to frame. It is ready to be displayed and enjoyed! This work will be carefully packed and shipped with insurance and signature confirmation. Free local pick up is also available. International buyers - please note I cannot lower the declared value of the package for customs. I frequently receive messages from people after I sell an item, asking if it is definitely gone. If something catches your eye, don't hesitate to inquire before it is sold! Feel free to ask any questions.
Price: 13500 USD
Location: Morrisville, Pennsylvania
End Time: 2024-10-21T05:02:12.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984)
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Signed By: Dorothy Eisner
Size: Large
Framing: Framed
Region of Origin: New York, USA
Personalize: No
Year of Production: 1938
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 40.5 in
Style: Figurative Art, 20th Century, American, Representational, Traditional, WPA, Social Realism, Expressionism
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK), Exhibited, Framed, Signed
Item Width: 50.5 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1925-1949
Signed: Yes
Title: Washington Square Park
Material: Canvas, Oil
Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes
Subject: Buildings, New York City, Washington Square Arch, Park, Water Fountain, 5th Avenue Shuttle, Robert Moses, City Planning, Manhattan, Greenwich Village
Type: Painting
COA Issued By: Jarrett McCusker
Theme: Americana, Architecture, Cities & Towns, Famous Places, Hobbies & Leisure, People
Production Technique: Oil Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
