Port of Missing Men, Conn

George J. Stengel studied in Paris in the 1890s, where he would have seen Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists experiment with asymmetrical compositions. He weights the foreground trees and terrain at the left, yet still includes a smaller tree at the right to frame the recession to Lake Rippowam and the hills beyond. Like most American Impressionists, Stengel forgoes flattened space and uses decreasing scale of the clouds to lead our eyes to the horizon.

The Port of Missing Men was a resort between North and South Salem, close to the Connecticut border and Ridgefield, where Stengel had retired. It was probably a familiar landmark for the artist as he drove and hiked to find spots conducive to painting.

Recent conservation of both of the paintings by Stengel in this gallery highlights the Impressionist palette of this founder of the Museum and the Yonkers Art Association.