Esther Phillips Gouache on Paperboard "Hickey Cement Mixer on Gowanus Canal"

Item Details

Esther Phillips (Pittsburgh/New York; 1902-1983)
Hickey Cement Mixer on Gowanus Canal, late 1950s
Gouache on paperboard
Signed to lower right and to verso
Titled to verso

A gouache painting on paper titled Hickey Cement Mixer at Gowanus Canal by artist Esther Phillips, created in the late 1950s. Drawn to water and bridges at an early age, the artist painted numerous works of the Gowanus Canal and other scenes featuring boats in harbor and industrial structures, as seen in this work. Signed to the lower right and to the verso, the work is also titled to the board verso. It is not matted and remains unframed. A similar painting is featured in Lisa A. Miles’ biography of the artist titled This Fantastic Struggle: the life and art of Esther Phillips, published in 2002.

Esther Phillips left Pittsburgh in the late 1930s to pursue a bohemian lifestyle in Greenwich Village. A member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, she immersed herself into local artistic circles, and among her artist friends were modernists Milton Weiss (American; 1912-1995) and Franz Kline (American; 1910-1962). Phillips’ work was often executed in watercolors at a quick pace, exhibiting the influence of Fauvism, Cubism, and artists such as Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Frequent subjects include abstracted cityscapes, townscapes, and asylum scenes that feature vibrant colors, simple shapes, and overall flatness. Her work has been exhibited posthumously at multiple galleries such as the Carson Street Gallery, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and the Borelli-Edwards Gallery, among others.

Condition

- minor wear along board edges; tape remnants to verso.

Dimensions

Item #

18DCC747-008