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The Coffee House

A work made of oil on canvas.

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

Winter 1905–6

Artist:

Alson Skinner Clark
American, 1876–1949

About this artwork

In The Coffee House, Alson Skinner Clark painted Chicago on a winter day, with ice floating down the river and the city’s skyscrapers looming through smoke and fog. The State Street Bridge, with its characteristic curving ironwork, draws the viewer’s eye into the picture. Clark’s scene is in the tradition of the urban realism of the French Impressionists, recalling such pictures as Claude Monet’s Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare. Like Monet, Clark sought to suggest both the ephemeral nature of fog and smoke and the atmosphere’s effect upon the forms of the city.

Status

On View, Gallery 179

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Alson Skinner Clark

Title

The Coffee House

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1905–1906

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

signed: A.S. Clark

Dimensions

96.5 × 76.2 cm (38 × 30 in.)

Credit Line

Gift in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Alson E. Clark

Reference Number

1915.256

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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