Dublin Core
Title
Description
A tree serves as the central focus for this piece, dividing the left and right of the portions of Alshets’ painting. Its setting is Crotona Park, in the Bronx. The narrower left side of the painting shows a road going into the distance and vanishing; the road heading to the right past the tree holds most of the action, with people walking and biking through the park underneath electric lights—still a new innovation during the 1930s. Evening in Crotona Park is painted in a darker palette, with details fading out the deeper into the painting you go. In the foreground near the tree are two people, a man and a woman, sitting on the grass and talking to one another. The brushstrokes in this painting are light, in the upper portion used to give an impression of dim moonlight filtering in through the cloudy sky. This piece shows a calm evening and evokes a sense of community and peace, one that Alshets himself may have felt about the park since he lived nearby. He offers us a few moments there ourselves, under the electric lights.
About the Artist
Alshets was an artist for the Federal Arts Project based in New York, having immigrated from Sheffield, England as a young child. Although we know a several of his artworks, and even have a photograph of him painting Deserted Farm (1938), there is little more about the man who created them. Historical records indicate a large family, including a twin sister, and a toymaker father who struggled financially. We also can trace how his paintings, through the FAP, travelled across the United States. In 1941 his painting Tri Boro Bridge was exhibited at the the Salt Lake City Art Center and praised by the local newspaper as a lively scene reminiscent of Reginald Marsh. That same painting appeared a few months later in Oregon, at the Salem Arts Center, where a reviewer thought that it showed a good understanding of the average American. Deserted Farm traveled to the Federal Art Gallery in Chicago; a still life traveled to Bradenton, FL. Unfortunatelyartists like Alshets are everywhere: gifted people who created art but never had anyone to record the day to day of their life. 12 images at FAP.
Works Consulted:Alshets Family Tree, Ancestry.com; “Center Group Illustrates Realistic Art”( Salt Lake City Tribune 24 Feb. 1941: 9); “Art Center Notes” (Salem Statesman Journal (22 Jun. 1941: 12).
About the Artist
Alshets was an artist for the Federal Arts Project based in New York, having immigrated from Sheffield, England as a young child. Although we know a several of his artworks, and even have a photograph of him painting Deserted Farm (1938), there is little more about the man who created them. Historical records indicate a large family, including a twin sister, and a toymaker father who struggled financially. We also can trace how his paintings, through the FAP, travelled across the United States. In 1941 his painting Tri Boro Bridge was exhibited at the the Salt Lake City Art Center and praised by the local newspaper as a lively scene reminiscent of Reginald Marsh. That same painting appeared a few months later in Oregon, at the Salem Arts Center, where a reviewer thought that it showed a good understanding of the average American. Deserted Farm traveled to the Federal Art Gallery in Chicago; a still life traveled to Bradenton, FL. Unfortunatelyartists like Alshets are everywhere: gifted people who created art but never had anyone to record the day to day of their life. 12 images at FAP.
Works Consulted:Alshets Family Tree, Ancestry.com; “Center Group Illustrates Realistic Art”( Salt Lake City Tribune 24 Feb. 1941: 9); “Art Center Notes” (Salem Statesman Journal (22 Jun. 1941: 12).
Creator
Alshets, Simon (1908 - ?)
Publisher
Date
Contributor
Secor, Caleb (description and biography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Source
New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY
Object #FA 20137
Object #FA 20137
Format
jpeg, 2.2 MB
jpeg, 1.2 MB
jpeg, 1.2 MB
Type
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Oil on canvas painting
Physical Dimensions
36 x 30 in.