Wall Street October 7, 2008

Wall Street by Arnold Ronnebeck

The market's up! The market's down! While the financial markets try to regain their footing, I decided to see how artists have portrayed Wall Street over the years, and came across this interesting lithograph by Arnold Ronnebeck. Executed in 1925, Ronnebeck's view of "the Street" creates a precisionist's canyon of shadows and light. The buildings loom tall and have taken on larger-than-life personalities. From the viewer's vantage point, it appears as if you've just landed in a new country or are about to embark on a monumental quest, one step at a time.

Ronnebeck was born in Germany in 1885 and died in Denver, Colorado in 1947. As a young man he fought in the German army during World War I, then studied art in Munich and Berlin before moving to Paris in 1908 to continue his studies with Aristide Maillol and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. When Ronnebeck immigrated to America he arrived in Washington, D.C., where he lived briefly before moving to New York City and finally settling in Colorado.

Ronnebeck's fascination with downtown Manhattan is apparent in this lithograph. He often worked from photographs to capture the precise details of his subjects. What Berenice Abbott could do with a camera, Ronnebeck accomplished with ink and paper. Here the buildings loom tall and easily intimidate. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as well as the steeple of Trinity Church. Of course, this image was made in 1925 . . . four years before the Street would take its record pounding.

• Wall Street, Arnold Ronnebeck, Berenice Abbott, Lithography, American Art,
  Smithsonian American Art Museum