John Lavery, Irish, 1856-1941
Title: Central Park, New York, Evening
Date: 1926
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
76.5 × 63.5 cm
Signed: lower left: J. Lavery
Credit Line: Purchased, 2022
Object Number: NGI.2022.40
DescriptionJohn Lavery was captivated by the energy and beauty of New York. He made this view of Central Park from the Plaza Hotel where he stayed during the winter of 1925-26. There was an anthracite coal strike at the time and Lavery recalled that ‘soft coal had to be used with all its attendant smoke and dirt - but the haze that this brought over the city softened the outlines of the skyscrapers into a new beauty. It gave a truly Turneresque effect and reminded one of Whistler’s remark about the poor Thames warehouses becoming palaces at night.’
ProvenanceFamily of the Artist, then by descent to a Private Collection, their sale, Christie's, London, 10 May 2007, lot 112, where acquired by the previous owner; Purchased, 2022
Exhibition HistoryAmerican Portraits, Interiors and Landscapes, by Sir John Lavery, RA, RSA, RHA, LLD, Duveen Galleries, New York, 1926; no.7.
Inscriptionon verso: John Lavery, New York, 1926