Early Abstract and Modernist Painting
Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Untitled (Village Street Scene), 1948
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Beauford Delaney moved to New York City in 1929 and became captivated by the urban landscape. Seeking to convey the energy of modern life in his paintings, Delaney blended social realism’s interest in the life of the streets with an expressionistic variant of abstract expressionism. Untitled (Village Street Scene) is emblematic of this distinctive interpretation of life in New York City. In 1936 Delaney moved to a studio on Greene Street in Soho and painted several versions of intersections similar to this one around his neighborhood. He relays the corner’s noisy dynamism with vibrant colors, animated lines, and markers of the urban environment— street lamps, trash cans, and manhole covers. With its clarity of subject matter, assertive palette, and bold outlines, Untitled (Village Street Scene) is a buoyant interpretation of the artist’s interest in the rhythms of urban life.
Learn more about this painting on the Terra Foundation website.
Early Abstract and Modernist Painting
Joseph Stella (1877–1946)
Telegraph Poles with Buildings, 1917
Max Weber (1881–1961)
Construction, 1915
Patrick Henry Bruce (1881–1936)
Peinture, 1917–18
Marsden Hartley (1877–1943)
Painting No. 50, 1914–15
Arthur Dove (1880–1946)
Nature Symbolized #3: Steeple and Trees, 1911–12
Arthur Dove (1880–1946)
Sails, 1911–12
Charles Demuth (1883–1935)
Welcome to Our City, 1921
Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1880–1953)
Boy with Cow, 1921
Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Super Table, 1925
Helen Torr (1886–1967)
Purple and Green Leaves, 1927
Arthur Dove (1880–1946)
Boat Going through Inlet, c. 1929
John Graham (1881–1961)
The Green Chair, 1928
John Storrs (1885–1956)
Politics, 1931
Ernest Lawson (1873–1939)
Brooklyn Bridge, 1917–20
John Marin (1870–1953)
Sailboat, Brooklyn Bridge, New York Skyline, 1934
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986)
Red Amaryllis, 1937
Albert Eugene Gallatin (1881–1952)
Room Space, 1937–38
Milton Avery (1885–1965)
Adolescence, 1947
George Tooker (1920–2011)
Highway, 1953
Ed Paschke (1939–2004)
Topcat Boy, 1970
Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Untitled (Village Street Scene), 1948
Philip Evergood (1901–1973)
Passing Show, 1951
Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946)
Kalounna in Frogtown, 1986