Object Details
Artist
Rowland Lyon, born Washington, DC 1904-died Washington, DC 1966
Luce Center Label
Rowland Lyon lived in Washington, D.C., his entire life. Even though he traveled abroad often, he always enjoyed painting images of his hometown. In Georgetown Waterfront, the landscape is divided into three horizontal bands: the buildings lining the Georgetown waterfront, their rippling reflections in the Potomac River, and the bare winter landscape in the foreground on the Virginia side of the river. During the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, Americans saw factories and smokestacks as symbols of the country's economic recovery. Lyon painted a row of silos, buildings, and chimneys in bright, cheerful colors to celebrate industry as an essential part of the American landscape.
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration
Date
1934
Object number
1974.89.5
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
26 1/8 x 40 in. (66.3 x 101.5 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor, 38A
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Architecture\industry\factory
Cityscape\District of Columbia\Washington
Cityscape\District of Columbia\Georgetown
Cityscape\river\Potomac River
New Deal\Public Works of Art Project\Washington, D.C.
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1974.89.5