The park was a favorite subject for Ashcan artist William Glackens, who depicts a late winter scene in “Washington Square, Winter” from 1910.
“Washington Square South was Glackens’s home from 1904 to 1913, and he painted more scenes of the square than any other subject except the beach near Bellport, Long Island,” states the website for the New Britain Museum of American Art, where the painting hangs.
“The Washington Square paintings were done in the winter, when the artist delighted in using paint to describe the thick mud, deep snowdrifts, and watery slush on the sidewalks.
“Once a fashionable address, it was by 1910 a diverse neighborhood, typical of the city of New York, which fascinated Glackens. Among the favored details that appear in his Washington Square series are the boy with the red sled, the green bus or trolley, and the woman in the flowered hat.”
Tags: Ashcan artists, Ashcan School, new Britain Museum of American Art, New York City 1910, New York painters, New York street, paintings of Washington Square, Washington Square Park, Washington Square Winter, William Glackens
Ephemeral New York 
February 19, 2011 at 6:58 pm |
This is a beautiful painting. Glackens seemed to focus on New York City and Long Island.
February 6, 2013 at 1:57 am |
[…] Glackens often painted winter scenes in the city. Here he capture more fashionably dressed women and children on a slushy day in Washington Square Park. […]
June 27, 2017 at 12:57 am |
It’s difficult to place the vantage point from which this painting is set since nothing speaks of the Village except possibly a very, very faint suggestion of white framed windows in two(?) faded, probably brick, buildings all but hidden in what looks like forest….now Washington Square North, originally Waverly Place?
August 10, 2020 at 7:10 am |
[…] William Glackens often depicted scenes of day-to-day life he witnessed in city parks, particularly Washington Square Park. (Makes sense; he lived on Washington Square South in the early […]
August 10, 2020 at 12:54 pm |
[…] William Glackens often depicted scenes of day-to-day life he witnessed in city parks, particularly Washington Square Park. (Makes sense; he lived on Washington Square South in the early […]