South Chicago River (1939-1940)

"South Chicago River" (1939-1940) is a work by Erminio Scapicchi. Landscape in brief: The invention of paint in tubes in the 1840s made it easier to work outdoors, and landscape became a main subject of Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism. Painters have used landscape to study light, weather, season, and the relation between people and place. Context for 1939-1940: The first decades of the twentieth century were a period of rapid experiment, with Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, and the first abstract painting appearing within a few years of each other. Dada and Surrealism followed the First World War, the Bauhaus school was founded in 1919, and Art Deco became the fashionable decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s. The catalogue places it in Landscape. The format is landscape.

On onlly.art "South Chicago River" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing.

American, 1911–1994

If you like the visual language of Erminio Scapicchi, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.