Show Questions Urban Images

What is the essence of the modern city? A recently opened exhibit at the Fogg Museum of Art, Imagery of the Modern Metropolis, focuses on this very theme, assessing the impact of urban life on the modern consciousness.

Images of the Modern Metropolis

Through March 10

At the Fogg Art Museum

The exhibit offers a variety of perspectives on the city and its inhabitants. The works are arranged topically, in categories such as: views, animation and energy, mood and history. This arrangement succeeds admirably in the difficult task of unifying an exhibit which includes artists of very different periods, outlooks and media. Ranging from European to American artists, Renaissance to modern works, the show includes such notable pieces as a 15th-century German Printed book with woodcut illustrations. Canaletto's Imaginary View of Padua and Joseph Stella's Study for the Brooklyn Bridge.

The exhibit, organized by John Czaplicka, assistant professor of fine arts, accompanies a course offered this spring term. It aims at tracing the evolving conceptions of the metropolis, through the eyes of individual artists who depict its effects upon the inhabitants. The fantastic medley of ideas and experiences present in any modern urban center is reflected in their artistic product and in the show as a whole.

The works, interesting on their own, in combination force the audience to reconsider the metropolis' impact on man and to disregard any `typical' perspective.

Two works which encourage the audience to reevaluate its perception of New York City, the definitive city, are Stella's Study for the Brooklyn Bridge and Edward Hopper's Manhattan Bridge. The spirit in which the artists view the city differs significantly. Stella's work presents the city as dynamic and energetic. The viewer stands at the end of the bridge, staring down its length, which narrows dramatically. The line, straight and bold, and color, electric blue and black, contribute to the powerful impact of the metropolitan bridge. Fast-paced and frightening in its resolute path, Stella's work represents a particularly charged view of city life.

In contrast, Hopper's Bridge attributes a desolate aura to New York City. The barren landscape, spotted with ware-houses and train tracks, is disrupted by a bridge cutting diagonally across the picture. Unlike Stella's work, this painting leaves an impression that is neither dynamic nor determined. The muted colors created by applying watercolor over graphite reinforce the dull emptiness of the industrial scenery.

Political concerns motivate several of these works. In many cases, the perspective from which the work is painted reveals the artist's ideological intention. Childe Hassam's etching, Fifth Avenue, Noon, illustrates this trend. In the print, looming skyscrapers overshadow streets crowded with tiny people. Hassam uses line to emphasize the straightness of the buildings and the insignificance of the crowd, displaying his opinion that city life disempowers the individual.

A few pieces perceive the city as a hopeful development. Canaletto reveals a romantic view of urbanity in his Imaginary View of Padua. A panorama of carefully distributed monuments reflects an idealized vision of the city. His pastoral image suggests a culture and refinement completely lacking both Stella's furor and Hopper's desolation.

Overall the exhibit is thought provoking and commendable for its contrasting styles and depictions of the urban existence. Because the artists portray varying understandings of the city, the misconception of a "typical" metropolis and its effects is shattered by the diversity of the show. In the end, the exhibit relays as much of the individual ideals of the artists as it does of common perceptions of the city.