Works

 

This oil on canvas painting by Alice Rahon is crowded with hundreds of abstract geometric forms representing a city perched on a cliff. Bright with yellows, pinks, blues, greens, and reds fill the canvas. Each of the buildings has small details represented through lines, dots, circles, and zig-zags.
Alice Rahon, French and Mexican, 1904–1987, La Ville Orientale (The Oriental City), 1944, oil on canvas, 11 × 12 1/2 in. (28 × 31.8 cm). Gift of Ann M. Huebner Class of 1989 and Ross P. Waller, Class of 1989; 2015.19.

 

 

This screenprint by Risaburo Kimura is a horizontal sheet broken up into four panels with varying background colors. The overall print utilizes a blue-purple color scheme with a cluster of red circles near the middle. The leftmost panel and two right panels have more muted purple backgrounds, while the second panel has a brighter blue. The panels present a continuous picture in which abstract lines, rectangles, and squares compose an abstract aerial cityscape. The blue panel has four circles, two red, one pink, and one light blue, plus one semicircle outlined in pink. The density of the print varies, but the bottom is much denser than the top, which has minimal lines.
Risaburo Kimura, Japanese American (moved to New York in 1964), born 1924, Cityscape, 1967, screenprint on paper, overall: 17 1/2 × 43 15/16 in. (44.5 × 111.6 cm). Gift of Dr. Samuel Mandel; PR.983.57.7.

 

 

This work is a tape-and-paper collage on a white canvas. A minimalist tipi in the center of the canvas is constructed out of two black lines that intersect at the top. In the middle of these two black lines is a black-edged triangle with the white of the canvas as the center. Collectively, the forms suggest a tipi, with the triangle form representing the opening to the abode.
Leon Polk Smith, Cherokee/American, 1906–1996, Untitled, 1991, paper and tape collage on Arches Aquarelle paper, 29 15/16 × 22 1/4 in. (75.9 × 56.5 cm). Gift of the Leon Polk Smith Foundation; 2012.24.3.

 

 

Dong Kingman’s Mott Street, a watercolor on heavy wove paper, is a semi-realistic painting of a traditional Chinese street. It has colorful buildings and street signs with English and Chinese words and advertisements, and people walk up and down the sidewalk. Dogs and cats are scattered on the street and gather near the stores on the sidewalk. A group of pigeons hover around a bright red fire hydrant in the foreground. The hydrant stands next to a street sign and stop light that extends to the top of the canvas. A large building with a cupola and spire in the background of the painting and is circled by a flock of birds.
Dong Kingman (Dong Moy Shu), American, 1911–2000, Mott Street, 1953, transparent watercolor on very heavy wove paper, 18 9/16 × 21 15/16 in. (46.9 × 55.7 cm). Gift of Philip H. Greene, in memory of his wife and co-collector, Marjorie B. Greene; 2007.6.4.

 

 

Richard Aberle Florsheim’s Metropolis is a black-and-white lithograph on paper filled with slim rectangles of uniform widths but varying heights. The rectangles near the bottom of the canvas are the shortest and darkest. Moving up the canvas, the buildings become taller and lighter. The background is textured, adding an aura of light and shadow to the work. Whiter areas in the upper register extend from the tops of the buildings like light beams illuminating the city.
Richard Aberle Florsheim, American, 1916–1979, Metropolis, 1963, lithograph on paper, 13 15/16 × 9 15/16 in. (35.3 × 25.3 cm). Purchased through the Julia L. Whittier Fund; PR.964.231.2.

 

 

This woodcut by Zarina is printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on a larger piece of lighter-colored paper. The print is vertically oriented and looks like a simplified map. Its black, meandering lines form a schematic representation of the Indian city of Delhi, as indicated by the handwritten title beneath the image. The lines are soft and curve around the city, some thicker, denoting rivers and barriers, and others thin, branching off and disappearing into the background.
Zarina, Delhi, from the portfolio Cities I Called Home, 2010, Portfolio of 5 woodcuts and text printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on Arches cover buff paper, Edition of 25, Sheet size: 26 x 20 inches (66.04 x 50.8 cm), Block size variable. © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

 

 

This woodcut by Zarina is printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on a larger piece of lighter-colored paper. The print is vertically oriented and looks like a simplified map. Its black, meandering lines form a schematic representation of the city of Bangkok, as indicated by the handwritten title beneath the image. The lines are soft and curve around the city, some thicker, denoting rivers and barriers, and others thin, branching off and disappearing into the background.
Zarina, Bangkok, from the portfolio Cities I Called Home, 2010, Portfolio of 5 woodcuts and text printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on Arches cover buff paper, Edition of 25, Sheet size: 26 x 20 inches (66.04 x 50.8 cm), Block size variable. © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

 

 

This woodcut by Zarina is printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on a larger piece of lighter-colored paper. The print is vertically oriented and looks like a simplified map. Its black, meandering lines form a schematic representation of the city of Aligarh, as indicated by the handwritten title beneath the image. There are few lines in this print, and they take on a geometric quality with hard angles and corners.
Zarina, Aligarh, from the portfolio Cities I Called Home, 2010, Portfolio of 5 woodcuts and text printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on Arches cover buff paper, Edition of 25, Sheet size: 26 x 20 inches (66.04 x 50.8 cm), Block size variable. © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

 

 

This woodcut by Zarina is printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on a larger piece of lighter-colored paper. The print is vertically oriented and looks like a simplified map. Its black-and-white lines represent New York, specifically the island of Manhattan. The river surrounding the island is depicted in deep black ink, which contrasts the white of the island and thin black lines that make up the bridges and streets of New York.
Zarina, New York, from the portfolio Cities I Called Home, 2010, Portfolio of 5 woodcuts and text printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on Arches cover buff paper, Edition of 25, Sheet size: 26 x 20 inches (66.04 x 50.8 cm), Block size variable. © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

 

 

This woodcut by Zarina is printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on a larger piece of lighter-colored paper. The print looks like a simplified map. Its black, meandering lines form a schematic representation of Paris, as indicated by the handwritten title beneath the image. The lines are soft and curve around the city, in a circular manner. Some are thicker, denoting rivers like the Seine, and others thin, radiating out into the background.
Zarina, Paris, from the portfolio Cities I Called Home, 2010, Portfolio of 5 woodcuts and text printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper and mounted on Arches cover buff paper, Edition of 25, Sheet size: 26 x 20 inches (66.04 x 50.8 cm), Block size variable. © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

 

 

Ivan Albright’s watercolor Cairo, Egypt is an aerial view of a bridge that connects the two banks of the Nile river. The canvas is white with splotches of color comprising the scene. The central motif is a bridge with five low-profile arches delineated with a thin black line. Water above and below the bridge is made up of effortless brushstrokes in shades of blue, white, and turquoise. The city seems to glow from behind the bridge with yellows, blues, whites, and purple pigments.
Ivan Albright, American, 1897–1983, Cairo, Egypt, 1974, watercolor and gouache on paper, 10 7/8 × 15 1/8 in. (27.6 × 38.4 cm). Gift of Josephine Patterson Albright, Class of 1978HW; W.986.56.45.

 

 

Adebisi Fabunmi’s Untitled is made of yarn glued on a fabric and canvas support. The work is about three feet wide by five and a half feet high. The canvas is covered with colorful square homes of various sizes with triangular roofs. Near the bottom third of the canvas, a stylized airplane has landed on a cluster of gray semicircles that evoke the ground. Although colorful, the work has a muted palette with blues, reds, greens, yellows, pinks, and grays.
Adebisi Fabunmi, Nigerian, born 1945, Untitled (Airplane Flyer over City), 1960, fabric, yarn, adhesive on canvas, 36 1/4 × 65 9/16 in. (92 × 166.5 cm). Gift of Edward B. Marks, President, Class of 1932, in memory of Tom Marks, Class of 1965; T.2003.21.2.