The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Church Street El

Church Street El

1920
(American, 1883–1965)
Framed: 60 x 67.5 x 6 cm (23 5/8 x 26 9/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 41 x 48.5 cm (16 1/8 x 19 1/8 in.)

Did You Know?

Sheeler and his good friend, the poet William Carlos Williams, patronized speakeasies together during Prohibition.

Description

Capturing the soaring heights of New York City, this painting is a dramatic bird's-eye view of Broadway and Wall Street, showing a conglomeration of buildings at left and center, and the Church Street elevated train at right. Sheeler based his composition on an image from the short movie Manhatta (1920-21), which he made with the photographer Paul Strand. One of the first avant-garde American films, Manhatta celebrates the dynamic metropolis through a series of carefully composed shots of Lower Manhattan. As typical with Sheeler's work, the artist simplified forms and eliminated textures in Church Street El to concentrate on rhythmic interplay of shapes and color, and patterns of light and shadow.
  • 1977-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
    -1977
    (Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    ?
    (Harold Diamond, New York, NY) 1
    Probably 1940-at least 1969
    Elizabeth Lentz Horter [1900-1985], South Langhorne, PA
    By 1930-probably 1940
    Earl Horter [1880-1940], Philadelphia, PA 1
  • Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, expect notice, April 27, 1977, in CMA curatorial file.
    Andy Schoelkopf, telephone conversation with Victoria Sears Goldman, April 16, 2013.
    Shoemaker, Innis H., Christa Clarke, and William S. Wierzbowski. Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection. 1999.
    "Above the Turmoil of New York, a Painting by Charles Sheeler-Photograph." Vanity Fair 16, no. 2 (April 1921). Reproduced: p. 47
    "Manhattan: The Proud and Passionate City- Photographs." Vanity Fair 18, no. 2 (April 1922). Reproduced: p. 51
    Watson, Forbes. "Charles Sheeler." The Arts 3, no. 5 (May 1923). Reproduced: p. 344
    Rourke, Constance. Charles Sheeler: Artist in the American Tradition. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1938. Mentioned: p. 89, 91, 94, 96, 106, 147, 180, 187; Reproduced: p. 53
    Devree, Howard. "Exhibition Reviews: Sheeler Complete." Magazine of Art 32, no. 11 (November 1939). Mentioned: p. 644-645; Reproduced: p. 645
    Brown, Milton W. "Cubist-Realism: An American Style." Marsyas 3 (1943-1945). Mentioned: p. 150; Reproduced: no. 5
    Seeley, Carol. "On the Nature of Abstract Painting in America." Magazine of Art 43, no. 5 (May 1950). Reproduced: p. 167
    Hayes, Jr., Bartlett H. "An Appreciation." In Charles Sheeler: A Retrospective Exhibition. Los Angeles: The Galleries, 1954. Mentioned: p. 9
    Wight, Frederick S. "Charles Sheeler." In Charles Sheeler: A Retrospective Exhibition. Los Angeles: The Galleries, 1954. Mentioned: p. 25, 27, 36
    Wight, Frederick S. "Charles Sheeler." Art in America 42, no. 3 (October 1954). Mentioned: p. 195
    Brown, Milton. American Painting From the Armory Show to the Depression. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955. Mentioned: p. 118; Reproduced: p. 120
    Chanin, A.L. "Sheeler: Purist Brush and Camera Eye." ARTnews 54, no. 4 (June 1955). Mentioned: p. 71-72
    Wight, Frederick S. "Charles Sheeler." In New Art in America: Fifty Painters of the 20th Century, edited by John I. H. Baur. New York: A. Praeger Publishers, 1957. Reproduced: p. 97
    Cohen, George Michael. "Charles Sheeler." American Artist 23, no. 1 (January 1959). Mentioned: p. 34 ; Reproduced: p. 35
    Craven, George M. "Sheeler at Seventy-Five." College Art Journal 18, no. 2 (Winter 1959). Reproduced: p. 137; Mentioned: p. 138
    Larkin, Oliver W. Art and Life in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960. Mentioned: p. 389; Reproduced: p. 387
    Raoul, Rosine. "Letter From New York: The Armory Show and its Decade." Apollo (April 1963). Mentioned: p. 335; Reproduced: p. 334, no. 3
    Baur, John I. H. Revolution and Tradition in Modern American Art. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966. Reproduced: no. 73
    The National Collection of Fine Arts. Charles Sheeler. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968. Mentioned: p. 15, 155; Reproduced: p. 39, no. 24
    Friedman, Martin. "The Art of Charles Sheeler: Americana in a Vacuum." In Charles Sheeler. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968. Mentioned: p. 40
    Hayes, Bartlett. "Reminiscence." In Charles Sheeler. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968. Mentioned: p. 70
    Davidson, Abraham A. "Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Photographs at the Whitney." Arts Magazine 43, no. 5 (March 1969). Mentioned: p. 40
    Jaffe, Irma B. "The Forming of the Avant-Garde, 1900-30. " In The Genius of American Painting, edited by John Wilmerding. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1973. Mentioned: p. 238, Reproduced: p. 239
    Davidson, Abraham A. The Story of American Painting. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974. Reproduced: p. 132, no. 119; Mentioned: p. 132, 133
    Friedman, Martin. Charles Sheeler. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1975. Mentioned: p. 36; Reproduced: p. 56
    Heller, Nancy, and Julia Williams. "Charles Sheeler: American Industry as Landscape." American Artist 40, no. 402 (January 1976). Mentioned p. 62
    Driscoll, John Paul. "Books in Review: Martin Friedman, Charles Sheeler." Art Journal 36, no. 1 (Fall 1976).
    Arnason, H.H. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1977. Mentioned: p. 428; Reproduced: p. 428, no. 689
    Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 1 (January 1978). Mentioned: p. 4
    Midwest Art History Society Newsletter, October, 1978. Reproduced: no. 5
    Schulz, Bernhard. "Made in America: Tecnik und Dingwelt in Prazisionismus." In Amerika Traum und Depression 1920/40. Berlin: Die Gesellschaft, 1980. Reproduced: p. 89; Mentioned: p. 116, 534
    Fillen-Yeh, Susan. "Charles Sheeler: Industry, Fashion, and the Vanguard." Arts Magazine 54, no. 6 (February 1980). Reproduced: p. 157, no. 13; Mentioned: p. 157
    Fillin-Yeh, Susan. "Charles Sheeler and the Machine Age." PhD diss., The City University of New York, 1981. Mentioned: p. xiv, 152 note 58, 153, 206, 210-211, 249 note 18; Reproduced: p. 332, no. 80
    Stewart, Patrick Leonard. "Charles Sheeler, William Carlos Williams, and the Development of the Precisionist Aesthetic, 1917-1931." PhD diss., University of Delaware, 1981. Mentioned: p. 33; Reproduced: p. 190, no. 8
    Tsujimoto, Karen. Images of Precisionist Painting: America and Modern Photography. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982. Mentioned: p. 74, 79, 80; Reproduced: no. 18
    Menton, Seymour. Magic Realism Rediscovered, 1918-1981. Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press, 1982. Mentioned: p. 78-79
    Albright, Thomas. "Precisionism's Ambivalent Modernism." ARTnews 82, no. 1 (January 1983). Mentioned p. 88; Reproduced: p. 87
    Ricciotti, Dominic. "The Revolution in Urban Transport: Max Weber and Italian Futurism." The American Art Journal 16 (Winter 1984). Mentioned: p. 61; Reproduced: 61, no. 13
    Haskell, Barbara. Ralston Crawford. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1985. Mentioned: p. 14; Reproduced: p. 15, no. 4
    Maroney, Jr., James H. The Elite and Popular Appeal of the Art of Charles Sheeler. New York: James Maroney, Inc., 1986. Mentioned: p. 11
    Wilson, Richard Guy, Dianne H. Pilgrim, and Dickran Tashjian. The Machine Age in America 1918-1941. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1986. Mentioned: p. 219; Reproduced: p. 219
    Wheat, Ellen Harkins. Jacob Lawrence: American Painter. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1986. Reproduced: p. 45, no. 24
    Schleier, Merrill. The Skyscraper in American Art, 1890-1931. New York: Da Capo Press, 1986. Mentioned: p. 80
    Tichi, Cecelia. Shifting Gears: Technology, Literature, Culture in Modernist America. Charlotte: The University of North Carolina Press, 1987. Reproduced: p. 253
    Stern, Robert A.M., Gregory Gilmart, and Thomas Messins. New York 1930: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1987. Reproduced: p. 53
    Baker, John. Henry Lee McFee and Formalist Realism in American Still Life 1923-1936. Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 1987. Mentioned: p. 99; Reproduced: p. 99, no. 126
    Hammer, Martin. "Exhibition Reviews: New York, Whitney Museum, Charles Sheeler." The Burlington Magazine 130, no. 1019 (Feb 1988). Mentioned: p. 164; Reproduced: p. 164, no. 107
    Lubowsky, Susan. George Ault. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1988. Mentioned: p. 14; Reproduced: p. 14, no. 9
    Ricciotti, Dominic. "City Railways/Modernist Visions." In The Railroad in American Art: Representations of Technological Change. Japan: Toppan Printing Company, 1988. Mentioned: p. 139-140, 143; Reproduced: p. 139, no. 106
    Fillin- Yeh, Susan. "Charles Sheeler's Rolling Power." In The Railroad in American Art: Representations of Technological Change, edited by Susan Danly and Leo Marx. Japan: Toppan Printing Company, 1988. Mentioned: p. 158
    Henry, Steven P. "Exhibition: Charles Sheeler: Prints, Drawings, Photographs." Dallas Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring/Summer 1988). Mentioned: p. 17; Reproduced: p. 16
    Lynton, Norbert. The Story of Modern Art. Oxford: Phaidon, 1989. Mentioned: p. 162-163; Reproduced: p. 164
    Lucie-Smith, Edward. Art Deco Painting. Oxford: Phaidon, 1990. Reproduced: p. 21, no. 11
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 146 archive.org
    Hinson, Tom E. Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Mentioned: p. 38; Reproduced: p. 37
    Lucic, Karen. Charles Sheeler and the Cult of the Machine. London: Reaktion Books, 1991. Mentioned: p. 59-71; Reproduced: no. 33
    Harnsberger, R. Scott, and David L. Henderson. Ten Precisionist Artists: Annotated Bibliographies. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992. Mentioned: p. 250, note 1080
    Chong, Alan. European and American Painting in The Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue, Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 222
    Schmied, Wieland. "Precisionsit View and American Scene: The 1920s." In American Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913-1993, edited by Christos M. Joachimides and Norman Rosenthal. New York: Prestel, 1993. Mentioned: 471; Reproduced: p. 55, no. 8
    Benke, Britta. Georgia O'Keeffe 1887-1986: Blumen in der Wüste Köln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1994. Mentioned: p. 52; Reproduced: p. 52
    Stavitsky, Gail. "Reordering Reality: Precisionist Directions in American Art, 1915-1941." In Precisionism in America 1915-1941: Reordering Reality. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. Mentioned: p. 33, 35; Reproduced: p. 17, no. 5
    Handy, Ellen. "The Idea and the Fact: Painting, Photography, Film, Precisionists, and the Real World." In Precisionism in America 1915-1941: Reordering Reality. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. Mentioned: p. 42-45
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. 4th ed. London: Laurence King Publishing, 1995. Mentioned: p. 751; Reproduced: p. 752
    Turner, Evan H. Foreward to Catalogue of Photography, Tom E. Hinson. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Mentioned: p. XI
    Hughes, Robert. American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1997. Mentioned: p. 383; Reproduced: p. 384, no. 228
    Arnason, H.H., and Marla F. Prather. History of Modern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Mentioned: p. 419; Reproduced: p. 411, no. 216
    Shoemaker, Innis Howe, Christa Clarke, and William Wierzbowski. Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999. Mentioned: p. 36, 173, 184; Reproduced: p. 122, no. 78
    Haskell, Barbara. The American Century: Art & Culture 1900-1950. New York: Whitney Museum of Art, 1999.
    Brettell, Richard R. Modern Art 1851-1929: Capitalism and Representation. Oxford: Oxford Unviersity Press, 1999. Reproduced: p. 43
    May, Sally Ruth. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned: p. 58, 118
    Baldacci, Paolo, Jean Clair, Hajo Duchting, Claudia Gian Ferrari, Magdalena Holzhey, Christiane Lange, Gerd Roos, and Wieland Schmied. Der kuhle Blick: Realismus der zwanziger Jahre. New York: Prestel, 2001. Mentioned: p. 310; Reproduced: p. 311
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. 6th ed. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2002. Mentioned: p. 815
    Haas, Karen E. "Charles Sheeler and Film." Magazine Antiques. Nov 2002. Mentioned: p. 122-129; Reproduced: p. 126, pl XI.
    Cameron, Dan. Living Inside the Grid. New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art, 2003. Reproduced: p. 19
    Fontbona, Francesc. El Modernisme. Barcelona: Edicions l'isard, 2003. Reproduced: p. 168
    Solans, Piedad. "Cosmolgias de la Ciudad." In La Ciudad Collage: La Coleccion del IVAM, edited by Institut Valencia d'Art Modern. Valencia: IVAM, 2004. Reproduced: p. 41, no. 8
    Charles, Brock. Charles Sheeler: Across Media. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2006. Mentioned: p. 31, 48, 50-52, 116; Reproduced: p. 60
    Weber, Bruce. Paintings of New York, 1800-1850. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2005. Reproduced: p. 107
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. 7th ed. London: Laurence King Publishing, Ltd., 2005. Reproduced: p. 805, fig. 20.11
    Brock, Charles. "Charles Sheeler: Across Media." American Art Review 18, no. 3 (May-June 2006). Mentioned: p. 165
    Adams, Henry. What's American about American Art? A Gallery Tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Mentioned: p. 12, 129; Reproduced: p. 12, 128
    Miller, Angela L., Janet C. Berlo, Bryan J. Wolf, and Jennifer L. Roberts. American Encounters: Art, History and Cultural Identity. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc, 2012. Reproduced: p. 14.7
    Arnason, H.H. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Mentioned: p. 376-377; Reproduced: p. 37
    Carbone, Theresa A., ed. Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties. New York: Skira Rizzolli Publications in association with the Brooklyn Museum, 2011. Mentioned: p. 141-142 Reproduced: p. 143, no. 105
    Franklin, David, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art; London: Scala Publishers Ltd, 2012. Mentioned: p. 304; Reproduced: p. 305
    Troyen, Carol, and Jorge Santis. "Red-Hot American Painters: The Ashcan School." In Return to the Ashcan. Fort Lauderdale: Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: p. 26, no. 3
    Jensen, Kirsten M. "Painting Manhatta: Modernism, Urban Planning, and New York, 1920-1940." In Industrial Sublime: Modernism and the Transformation of New York's Rivers, 1900-1940. Yonkers: Hudson River Museum in association with Empire State Editions, 2013. Reproduced: p. 74, fig. 32.
    Bering, Kunibert, and Rolf Niehoff. Bildkompetenz: eine kunstdidaktische Perspektive. Oberhausen, Germany: Athena, 2013. Reproduced: p. 139
    Arnason, H. H. and Elizabeth Mansfield. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Mentioned & Reproduced: pp.352-353
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 56
    Hiller, Susan. "O'Keeffe as I see her, 1993." In Georgia O'Keeffe, edited by Tanya Barson. London: Tate Publishing, 2016. Mentioned: p. 230
    Maroney, Jr., James H. Fresh Perspectives on Grant Wood, Charles Sheeler, and George Durrie. Leicester, VT: Gala Books, Ltd, 2019. Mentioned: p. 151-154, 170 ; Reproduced: p. 151
    Maroney, James H. Fresh Perspectives on Grant Wood, Charles Sheeler, and George H. Durrie. Leicester, VT: Gala Books, Ltd., 2019. Reproduced: p. 151
    “Recommendations from Our Curators.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 2 (Spring 2021): 31. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 31.
  • The Cult of the Machine: Precision in American Art. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (March 24-August 12, 2018); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (September 16, 2018-January 6, 2019).
    Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties. The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (organizer) (October 28, 2011-January 22, 2012); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (February 24-May 27, 2012); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-September 16, 2012).
    Brooklyn Museum of Art (10/28/2011 - 1/22/2012), Dallas Museum of Art (2/24/2012 - 5/27/2012), and Cleveland Museum of Art (7/1/2012 - 9/16/2012): "Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties", Fig. 105, p. 143.
    Charles Sheeler: Mediums and Messages. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (May 7-September 4, 2006); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (October 15, 2006-January 7, 2007); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (February 10-May 6, 2007).
    National Gallery of Art (5/7/2006-9/4/2006), Art Institute of Chicago (10/15/2006-1/7/2007), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, MH de Young Museum (2/10/2007-5/6/2007): "Charles Sheeler: Mediums and Messages"
    Der kühle Blick. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, Germany (organizer) (June 1-September 2, 2001).
    Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Der kühle Blick: Realismus der Zwanzigerjahre in Europa und Amerika (1 June-2 September 2001), illus. p. 311.
    New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, The American Century: Art & Culture 1900-1950 (23 April-22 August 1999), cat. no. 273, illus. p. 148.
    Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection. Philadelphia Museum of Art (organizer) (March 7-May 16, 1999).
    Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection, (7 March-16 May 1999), plate 78, p. 122, also included two footnotes concerning Sheeler and his relationship to Horter (p. 61), and pp. 173, 180-181, 184.
    The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).
    Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art (24 January-9 April 1989)
    Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings, (13 October 1987- 3 January 1988); traveled to New York, Whitney Museum of American Art (28 January-17 April 1988); Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art (15 May-10 July 1988), no. 16, p. 80,
    San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography, (9 September-7 November 1982); traveled to Saint Louis, The Saint Louis Art Museum (6 December 1982-30 January 1983); Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art (28 February-25 April 1983); Des Moines, Des Moines Art Center (23 May-17 July 1983); Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art (15 August-9 October 1983), no. 92, plate 18 (also reproduced on cover),
    American Realism, 1920 - 1940. Academy of Fine Arts, Berlin, Berlin 1000, Germany (organizer) (November 9-December 28, 1980).
    Berlin, Academy of Fine Arts, America: Traum und Depression 1920-1940, (1980), pp. 109-137, illus. p. 89, pl. 8, cat. no. 292.
    Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
    mentioned briefly in essays by both Martin Friedman ("The Art of Charles Sheeler: Americana in a Vacuum") p. 40, and Bartlett Hayes ("Reminiscence") p. 70.
    included essay by Karen Tsujimoto entitled "Charles Sheeler: Precisionist Painter and Modern Photographer," (pp. 73-85, 172-173) which discusses the CMA painting.
    also included parts from essay by Carol Troyen and Erica E. Hirshler, "From the Eyes Inward: Paintings and Drawings by Charles Sheeler," (pp. 9-11, 36-37), which point out the fact that the CMA painting was derived from Manhatta.
    Charles Sheeler. National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (October 10-November 24 ,1968); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (January 10-February 16, 1969); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (March 11-April 27,1969); no. 24, illus. p. 39,
    Charles Sheeler: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs. Museum of Modern Art. New York, NY (1939), no. 11, listed p. 46.
    Modern Paintings from the Collection of Mr. Earl Horter of Philadelphia. The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL (April 3 - April 26, 1934); no. 57
    The Collection of Earl Horter. Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (February 17-1-March 13, 1934).
    New York, Whitney Studio Galleries, Exhibition of Selected Works by Charles Sheeler (1 March-31 March 1924).
  • {{cite web|title=Church Street El|url=false|author=Charles Sheeler|year=1920|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.43