4. Louis Lozowick

“Sky Line and Waterfront Traffic as Seen from Manhattan Bridge” (ca. 1938) by Louis Lonwick

Interestingly, all of the artists featured here came to New York from somewhere else. In the case of Louis Lonwick (1892-1973), he came the furthest, emigrating from Ukraine as a teenager. He focused much of his art on skyscrapers and how they fit into the wider urban tableau. As with Georgia O’Keefe and Charles Sheeler, much of his work is associated with Precisionism.

In “Roof and Sky,” Lozowick links what appears to be a roof vent, a rather humble feature of a low-rise building, though shown in a way that accentuates the attractiveness of its rounded shape, with the tapered form of the Empire State Building in the distance. “Hanover Square,” shows a vista with cars and an elevated train in the foreground and skyscrapers beyond. These structures contrast, but there is a connection.

Lozowick also created murals of the Lower Manhattan skyline and Triborough Bridge for the James A. Farley Post Office in Manhattan, one of many publicly-commissioned art works in postal facilities during the New Deal.