"Under the El" Painting by Dorothy Van Loan (American, 1904-1999)

Description

Brilliantly painted in a palette of canary yellow, orange-red, browns and blues, this WPA-period painting of an open-air market under … more Brilliantly painted in a palette of canary yellow, orange-red, browns and blues, this WPA-period painting of an open-air market under the Market-Frankford elevated train line ("the El") in Philadelphia was executed by Dorothy Van Loan, one of America's most talented -- and under-appreciated -- Modernist painters. Van Loan includes produce vendors and another vendor selling shoes and coats, with a line of vividly-hued row houses behind the scene and the heavy steel of the El overhead. The artist studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, Mint Museum of Art, Los Angeles Museum of Art, and the Washington Watercolor Club. Her art reminds us of the pioneering work of another woman artist of the period -- Marguerite Zorach. The painting is initialed in the lower righthand corner of the painting, which is oil on canvas measuring 16" x 24" without frame. less