RALSTON CRAWFORD
Building Facade, New York City.
Silver print, 1940. 111x155 mm; 4x6 inches. With Crawford's Estate stamp with a reference number in ink on verso; with a Robert Miller Gallery, New York label on mat verso.Crawford (1906-1978) is known for his depictions of industry in a Precisionist style. He was born in Ontario, near Niagara Falls, and moved to Buffalo, New York in 1910. He studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, The Pennsylvania Academy of Art, the Barnes Foundation (where he came into contact with masterpieces by Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse) and the Hugh Breckenridge School. Over the course of his career, working in both country (Chadds Ford and Exton, Pennsylvania) and urban settings, notably New York and New Orleans, Crawford developed into one of the foremost American Precisionists, along with Stuart Davis (1892-1964), Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) and Louis Lozowick (1892-1973).Precisionism evolved from its roots in European Cubism with its sharp edges and flattened forms, but American Precisionists focused primarily on depicting industrial subjects. Crawford's work emphasized American symbols of industry such as skyscrapers, bridges, silos and machinery, creating dynamic, modern and innovative compositions out of flattened forms. He also experimented with photography and graphic media such as screenprints.