NYC Paintings I

Washington Square Arch

Oil on canvas, 10” x 8”, April 23^rd, 1989

Inspired by a ash can school artist, Everett Shinn. His painting was done in charcoal and had several drunken friends strolling down the center of the street towards you. Tom painted it from the sidewalk in the Spring.

His outdoor style of painting evolved in Nantucket. Heretofore he was painting studio portraits. In 1985 he started taking old master paintings of landscapes, seascapes and figures in landscapes, mostly of Winslow Homer, and finding the same type scene in Nantucket and painting that in a smooth surface traditional manner. That went on for two Summers. He tried all sorts of scenes, men in boats, harbors scenes and finally settled on five different views of Main Street. In 1986 he started painting five different views of Main Street over and over again trying to perfect his landscape painting manner. He used only fours oil colors to focus on color theory. By the end on 1986 he was close to perfecting a impressionist manner. Impressionist meaning painted with a large brush and more paint than needed to cover the canvas so some of the paint raises up on the canvas. In 1987 he produced his greatest work in this manner.

His 1987 manner followed him wherever he went and he painted most excellent works in Key West, Palm Beach, New York City, Cincinnati and Atlanta.

In 1999 the Arch was covered while it is being repaired. Originally erected to celebrate the Revolutionary War with statues of Washington on the right and Hamilton on the left. The park was a potter’s field and the last person hung there was a black woman accused of setting a fire. Inside of the arch is one large room which could be made into a fantastic coffee shop. There are two small windows that look out. A very small spiral staircase goes up to the roof where some avant gart artists celebrated the New Year by breaking into the arch and spending the night drinking on the roof declaring the whole Village a bohemian enclave.

Irving Berlin’s Home

Oil on canvas, 10” x 8”, October 1996

Painted from life in the upper east side of New York City. Now the home of the Ducy of Luxembourg. Tom was staying in a hotel nearby while his wife attended a professional meeting and made use of the splendid opportunity to work in the fancy Sutton Place neighborhood. The home was previously owned by Irving Berlin for many years. Tom knows John Wallowitch, a composer like Berlin, who lives just down the street. Every Christmas Eve John and his friends would sing Christmas carols outside his home. Sometimes Irving would come to the window. While working on the painting for several days Tom felt quite safe in the ritzy, glitzy neighborhood. A proverbially who’s who of American and European wealthy would walk by and it was one of the few places where Tom felt he could leave his paint stand for a few minutes to go down the street to get a sandwich.

Several people expressed a lot of interest in the painting while he worked on it as the leaves fell from the Ginkgo trees that grow plentiful in the city. It is said that the Ginkgo tree is a prehistoric tree that was capable of surviving volcanic eruptions and the massive pollutants that come with such eruptions so is perfectly suited for growing in the polluted city. Tom had painted many such paintings on the street but worked especially hard on this one because he was slowly moving out of the apartment he lived at for twenty years in Greenwich Village and was moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his wife worked and his hometown.

The composition of the painting is a variation of Tom’s tunnel view down city streets. In this view the street ends as the cliff begins dropping down a hundred or so feet to the East River. The color is indicative of Tom’s strong light and dark manner where the two light fluxes are juxtaposed against each other. The dark shadow areas are full of variation as well as the light areas but when a photo is taken of the painting the two areas cannot be reproduced correctly. Either the light or the dark area has to be focused on for the light flux difference is so great, very much like human vision.

Tom used his yellow light and blue shadow manner. Changing the color of the light and dark areas to lean towards a stronger color gives piazza to the paintings.

Queensboro Bridge

Oil on canvas, 16” x 12”, Fall 1996

Village Delight

Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", Spring 1996

Painted from life, one of the last paintings done before giving up his NYC apartment of twenty years. It was the time where showing in coffee shops was popular and this place as a shoe in for Tom. He distributed coupons during the opening for $2 off whatever his guests wanted. For the rest of the week he painted this view. The players are all characters and much in the way of a local neighborhood, happenings occurred.

Li Lac Chocolates II

Oil on canvas, 12" x 16", February 1996

Painted on the street with the wind and all. The weather was cold those Fall days Tom sat in the gutter painting what has become a beloved chocolate shop. The owner liked the painting so much she purchased a duplicate of it. In the painting delivered to her there was a police officer walking down the street and two girls admiring the fine chocolates along with their dog.

Li Lac Chocolates I, New York City

Oil on canvas, 12" x 16", October 28th, 1995

Painted on the Street in New York City. Tom lived in the West Village for Twenty years. Besides painting many street scenes he was a social portrait painter traveling the circuit from Nantucket, New York and Palm Beach. This painting is his best.

The view is looking East on Christopher Street towards where his apartment was. A few blocks behind is the Hudson River. The time was Fall. The wind was not too bad as he sat in the gutter for many days painting. The chocolate shop is still open.

Article appeared in the Lexington Herald Leader August 30th, 1995 when the Lic Lac painting was in a group show of the Lexington Art league

Potbelly Stove Restaurant, New York City

Oil on canvas, 16" x 12", October 22-25 ,1995

When he was working the owner gave him several passes for meals. Tom being the consummate starving artist enjoyed the meals with his roommate. The owner wanted to buy the painting but only wanted to pay $200. Tom later sold the painting for $900, There is a Chinese waiter who is always there peeking out the window. You can barely see him inside. The cut out of the bell boy is a fixture in the Village and everyday there is a trivia question on it and if you guess the answer you get a free coffee.

Christopher St. looking West, New York City

Oil on canvas, 16" x 12", Fall 1995

You can see a tug boat going up river if you look way own the street. It is only a few blocks to the Hudson River and a easy walk to the cool breeze. During this painting session the wind was blowing terribly hard. Tom had to paint while he was holding onto the easel with his other hand. He later found out that if you ust go around the corner there will be no wind at all.

Christopher St. Looking East, New York City

Oil on canvas, 16" x 12", Fall 1995

This view shows Tom's old apartment building, the one he lived in for twenty years from 1978 to 1998. Only the delivery trucks and buses occupy the street. The local citizens have their automatic wheel chairs along with the blind girl & seeing eye dog.

West 9th Street

Tom Lohre’s New York City Paintings

Painted 1989 to date

Washington Square Arch