Art in New York - Manhattan triptych, oil painting

Paintings and stained glass in 1964, New York city, show mutual influences. The fragmentation and multiple views of leaded glass panels opens in paintings. Brush strokes and intimate subjects flow into glass. Flattened, stylized forms are reminiscent of oriental screen paintings.

These three oil paintings on linen canvases form a single image of the island of Manhattan, USA, seen from an imaginary position up in the air. The setting stretches between night and day, moon and sun, sky, air, wind, and precipitation. The island is made up of a few iconic images. On the left are quays of the seaport and tilted perspective views of buildings in the financial district. Towards the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge, looms the construction crane. I can't remember what the letters EA, OH, Il mean. People are sandwiched in the middle of the city. To the right, windows rise high, flanked by the wild, natural tip of the island. The raised hull of a single boat and distant structures stand for marine activity in the watery surround and urban development in all directions.

See larger versions of each panel: left, middle, and right.

See a photo on the street in front of Marj Baucom's lower East side loft about 1965. The canvas held by the artist is tipped within the setting, which forms an appropriate frame. Here is an ink painting of the subject.

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