Shadows, Spuyten Duyvil Hill

Ernest Lawson

ca. 1910 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Even after he moved downtown from Washington Heights, Lawson continued to portray Manhattan’s upper reaches. In this canvas, he depicted the vicinity of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, a tidal strait that linked the Harlem and Hudson Rivers. (The creek was supplanted by a deeper ship canal in 1895 and filled in.) The area still conjured visions of New York’s colonial past, especially the pioneering explorations of Henry Hudson. Lawson revealed modern encroachments on a relatively rural part of the city by including a puffing steamboat, factory buildings, and clusters of small houses.

Artist

Ernest Lawson

Date

ca. 1910

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Diana and Arthur Altschul, 1992