Samuel Margolies. 1897-1974.
Man's Canyons. 1936. Etching and aquatint. 11 3/4 x 8 7/8 (sheet 17 1/4 x 12 7/8). Executed for the Treasury Relief Art Project. Edition 100. Signed and titled in pencil. A glowing impression on pale cream-colored paper watermarked "Rives." Pristine condition on the full sheet with deckle edges. This is an exciting Modernist view of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. The top of the Empire State Building is decapitated visually, to create a startling effect. Illustrated: Barbara Cohen, Seymour Chwast, Steven Heller, New York Observed: Artists and Writers Look at the City. P.O.R.
Executed for the Treasury Relief Art Project, the smallest of the federal visual arts projects conceived under the New Deal to help Depression-stricken American artists in the 1930s. It was directed by the painter Olin Dows and designed to embellish existing federal buildings that lacked construction appropriations to finance such works.
Designed by William van Alen for Walter Chrysler and completed in 1930, the 77-floor Chrysler Building briefly reigned as the world's tallest structure before being overtopped by the Empire State Building - for which it is commonly mistaken - less than a year later.
The bold use of stepped forms and sweeping curves (unlike the sinuous, natural curves of the Art Nouveau), chevron patterns, and the sunburst motif are typical of Art Deco. Some of these motifs were ubiquitous — for example, sunburst motifs were used in such varied contexts as ladies' shoes, radiator grilles, the auditorium of the Radio City Music Hall, and the spire of the Chrysler Building. With its unique monumental nirosta metal stylised eagle gargoyles, winged hood ornaments and sunburst crown it remains one of the most distinctive Art Deco skyscrapers ever built.
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