Church Street El

Capturing the soaring heights of New York City, this painting is a dramatic bird's-eye view of Broadway and Wall Street, showing a conglomeration of buildings at left and center, and the Church Street elevated train at right. Sheeler based his composition on an image from the short movie <em>Manhatta</em> (1920-21), which he made with the photographer Paul Strand. One of the first avant-garde American films, <em>Manhatta</em> celebrates the dynamic metropolis through a series of carefully composed shots of Lower Manhattan. As typical with Sheeler's work, the artist simplified forms and eliminated textures in <em>Church Street El</em> to concentrate on rhythmic interplay of shapes and color, and patterns of light and shadow.