The artist's perspective from the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen offers a fascinating glimpse into New York City in the 1930s.
Manhattan Night“The View from West 56th Street Looking Southeast toward the Empire State Building” is part of a series of oil paintings by artist Edmund Yazian, offering a glimpse into Manhattan nearly a century ago, with the bright lights of Times Square rising from the rooftops. In 1936, the Empire State Building was much shorter than it is today, and it wasn't until 1950 that the 222-foot antenna seen today was installed.
Walking past the Chelsea gallery, a different scene first catches your eye: Bustling West 42nd Street, packed with crowds vying for attention across the canvas (and Seventh Avenue), while cars and streetcars zip through this century-old, yet somehow timeless, New York landscape. In the background is the McGraw-Hill Building, an art deco tower now surrounded by modern glass and steel. The physical environment may have evolved, but the spirit of the city, captured in the painting's bright colors, remains intact.
In the 10th Avenue gallery, paintings El Crossing 53rd Street Looking over the remains of the elevated train that once ran along Eighth Avenue, it paints a similarly bustling evening scene of city life, with the Hotel Empire still standing at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue in sight.
These paintings by Yaghjian are part of the American Contemporary Art Gallery's (ACA Gallery) group exhibition “Summer in The City,” which brings together past and present artists from across the gallery's nearly 100-year history. Yaghjian's works in the exhibition also include works depicting industrial activity in Central Park and along the East River at night.
Edmund Yaghjian was born in Armenia in the early 1900s and grew up in an Armenian immigrant community in Providence, Rhode Island. He spent 10 years in New York in the 1930s. During that time, his son David Yaghjian, also a painter, told W42ST, he fell in love with New York and its vibrant life. He lived on W 56th Street in Hell's Kitchen.
“He worked very hard,” David says. “Like many New Yorkers, he walked everywhere. And he loved the city. He would talk about how cheap it was to live here. Of course, this was in the 1930s!” His paintings capture “the energy of the city, the vibe of the city, the temperature of the city,” he adds.
Edmund Yaghjian arrived in the United States the year before the Armenian Genocide, David said. “They were fleeing for their lives and came to this open country, this country with millions of people everywhere, this incredibly diverse population,” David said. He remembers his father talking about meeting Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky while in New York.
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and a professor at the prestigious Art Students League, Yaghjian based most of his work on sketches he made while walking around the city, David said, though he has also done some sketching while sitting on the Times Building in Times Square.
In the 1940s, Yaghjian left New York and settled in Columbia, South Carolina, where he served as dean of the art department at the University of South Carolina. Though his stay in New York City was relatively short, it left a lasting impression on him and his family. A painting of Times Square hung above the family's fireplace, “and my sisters and I would sit and look at it,” David recalls.
Yaghjian's work evolved throughout his career. After moving to South Carolina, many of his works depicted life in the South, with a particular interest in the African-American community. His realist style also changed to become more abstract. He died in 1997 in his mid-90s.
David said Yaghjian was a devoted teacher throughout his life and taught art at senior centers in the last decades of his life.
But the irony is, “my father never taught me anything,” David recalls. “He just told me to draw.”
“Summer In The City” is on view at the ACA Gallery (173 10th Avenue, corner of W20th St.) through July 26. All of the artists featured in the exhibit have taught or studied at the Art Students League.
On July 17, the ACA will participate in the American Art Dealers Association Art Walk and host a reception with artists from the show, including Yaghjian’s granddaughter, from 6 to 8 p.m.
