Accession Number
1972/2.27

Title
In the Town

Artist(s)
Niles Spencer

Object Creation Date
1930

Medium & Support
oil on canvas

Dimensions
30 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. (76.8 x 102.1 cm);36 13/16 x 46 1/2 in. (93.35 x 118.11 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of The Ann Arbor Art Association, in memory of Ruby S. Churchhill

Label copy
Niles Spencer was a central figure in the Precisionist school of painters of the 1920s–40s. The intent of these artists was to forge a new national art through naturalistic depictions of typical American scenes with a distinctly modern aesthetic: the fundamental structures of things are simplified almost to the point of abstraction. In the process, quotidian life, such as the industrial scene here, is reduced to hard outlines and solid shadows which instill a heroic and almost mythical gravity to the scene.

The flat, eerily empty atmosphere and monumentality of "In the Town" are hallmarks of Spencer’s work. The buildings and small factories of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Long Island shore towns were his preferred subjects. Given the date of this canvas, however, the dehumanized, barren landscape may be less a Precisionist statement than a sad reflection on the collapse of American industrial prowess and energy in the face of the economic misery of the Great Depression.
(A. Dixon, 20th Century Gallery installation, June 1999)

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
cityscape

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
buildings
hills
modern and contemporary art
wheel
window