Martin Lewis, the mid-20th century artist who started me off on this new journey of learning. He is most famous for his prints, but like most visual artists he dabbled in other media. In general, I like his prints more than his paintings, but today’s offering includes an oil painting that I like very much. To make it even more interesting, he later did a print of almost exactly the same scene, so we can compare the two. The two pictures portray the same area from opposite viewpoints; it’s possible to pinpoint it as the same due to a very unusually shaped rock formation (Maybe the remnants of an old building? Hard to say for sure)
In general, it feels difficult comparing a piece in color to one in black and white, but given that I really love the black and white prints, maybe it’s more of a fair comparison. The scene is a look down on the railroad yards in wintertime, in Weehawken, NJ, which is directly across the Hudson River from midtown (roughly 30th-60th St.). I love prints and I love Lewis’ prints, but in this case I think I like the painting even better. Any thoughts|?
Above the yards, Weehawken (1918), etching with aquatint
Railroad yards, Winter, Weehawken (1917), oil painting
