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Sketch of Old Baltimore Waterfront

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

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Object Details

Artist
Herman Maril, born Baltimore, MD 1908-died Hyannis, MA 1986
Exhibition Label
Herman Maril opened a window onto the history of his native city in this view of Baltimore harbor. Maril was a modernist painter who simplified the forms in the painting to make "the abstract structure . . . dominant," yet he retained enough details to situate the scene in a past era. A schooner typical of nineteenth-century shipping is tied up in the foreground, its sails furled after a journey that could have brought it from almost anywhere in the world. The domed Merchants and Exchange building visible in the background stood at the corner of Gay and Water streets in Baltimore's inner harbor from 1815 until it was razed in 1901.
This painting is thus set before Maril’s birth in 1908, in an era cut off from the artist’s life time by the disastrous fire of 1904 that destroyed Baltimore’s inner harbor docks along with much of the city. Maril’s wife recalled that the artist "took pleasure in looking at the architecture and changes in the city over the years," particularly enjoying "the harbor where he walked with his father." Baltimore's vanished past remained key to Maril's personal conception of the American scene.1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
1934
Object number
1964.1.187
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on fiberboard
Dimensions
18 1/8 x 14 1/8 in. (46.0 x 36.0 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Cityscape\wharf
Figure group\male
Architecture\boat\sailing ship
Study
Cityscape\Maryland\Baltimore
New Deal\Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture\Maryland
Architecture Exterior\commercial\warehouse
Record ID
saam_1964.1.187
Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk760dd008f-998d-48d3-a57f-44c147b3f0f6

Related Content

  • Explore America: Maryland

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