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Georgetown Waterfront

Object Details

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Rowland Lyon lived in Washington, D.C., his entire life. Even though he traveled abroad often, he always enjoyed painting images of his hometown. In Georgetown Waterfront, the landscape is divided into three horizontal bands: the buildings lining the Georgetown waterfront, their rippling reflections in the Potomac River, and the bare winter landscape in the foreground on the Virginia side of the river. During the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, Americans saw factories and smokestacks as symbols of the country's economic recovery. Lyon painted a row of silos, buildings, and chimneys in bright, cheerful colors to celebrate industry as an essential part of the American landscape.
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist
Rowland Lyon, born Washington, DC 1904-died Washington, DC 1966
Date
1934
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
26 1/8 x 40 in. (66.3 x 101.5 cm.)
Type
Painting

Featured In

  • Explore America: Washington, D.C.
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