Poetry of the air: Thomas Moran's Lower Manhattan from Communipaw, New Jersey.(Biography)

Thomas Moran is best known today for his paintings of the American West, particularly the Grand Canyon, and of Venice. But the rich colors of nature's rocks and the reflective qualities of Venetian canals were not his only triumphs. He also found beauty in the industrial landscapes on the Hudson River in New Jersey. His Lower Manhattan from Communipaw, New Jersey of 1880, illustrated here, highlights the drama of smoke-and-steam-filled skies over the New Jersey sugar refineries.

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Taking up the topic in 1879, Moran first sketched the refinery buildings, looking at them across the marshy flats; he them made an etching in which the smoke-and-steam-dominated sky and the pools of reflecting water in the marsh receive full attention. (1) When he applied his vision to canvas, he used all of his technical skills to convey his era's excitement about industrial progress.

The painting gives a detailed account of the shore foreground--workers, driftwood, weeds, grit, docks, and on the right, ships with nearby machinery to load and unload them. In the middle of the picture Moran transformed the flats of his etching into a serene water surface of blues, grays, and browns, in which the activity of the smoky sky above the refineries is reflected. In dark colors accentuated by reddish browns, the refineries toward the left of the picture are served by tall ships at the docks. Across the distant background are the buildings of Manhattan in a soft gray, with the sky occupying about half the canvas, and hovering over the scene. Clouds of grays and whites seem to roll through it with trails of smoke and vapor from the industrial activity below. Using a variety of techniques, including blending wet paint into wet glazing to achieve deep shadows, and creating highlights with thin layers of opaque paint, Moran created the romance of industry.

The artist was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, but immigrated with his family to the United States in 1844. They settled in Philadelphia, where several members established careers as artists. The marine painter James Hamilton (1819-1878) encouraged Thomas Moran by giving him informal instruction and calling his attention to the work of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). The introduction to Turner was to shape Moran's career in significant ways.

Travel gave him breadth. He left Philadelphia in 1860, when he visited the frontier on Lake Superior. Then in 1861, with his brother Edward (1829-1901), also a painter, he went to England, where he studied and copied Turner's paintings and watercolors at the National Gallery. He was able to travel in Europe again in 1866, and finally visited Venice in 1886 to see the city that had inspired Turner's landscapes.

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