Skyscraper

Howard Cook's  wood engraving entitled Skyscraper offers an upward view of a monumental building reaching for the sky—a dynamic evocation of the modern phenomenon of urban architecture. The image evokes the awe inspired in Cook's generation by the towering skyscrapers that were increasingly populating the Manhattan skyline in the 1920s. The artist exploited the even areas of black tone characteristic of wood engraving to portray the building's elevated set-backs cast in deep shadow, thereby dramatizing the tall building's rectilinearity and verticality. In contrast to Charles Sheeler's sunlight-bathed Delmonico Building (TF 1995.3), Cook's skyscraper seems to soar upward with powerful momentum.

Cook engraved the woodblock for Skyscraper in 1928; this impression, however, was printed in 1929. The set-backs, symmetrical form, and vertical thrust of the building he portrayed are typical of the architectural style known as Art Deco, popular from the mid-1920s through the early 1930s. The skyscraper shown here resembles the RCA Building at New York City's Rockefeller Center, but that monolithic building was not completed until 1933, four years after this print was made. Skyscraper and Times Square Sector (TF 1995.29) are among approximately thirty-five prints of New York City buildings and views, most in the medium of wood engraving or woodcut, that Cook made between 1928 and 1931.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form). [exh. cat.]

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 2004.

America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK (organizers.) Venue: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK, March 23, 2018–July 22, 2018 [exh. cat.]

In the Streets: Modern Life and Urban Experiences in the Art of the United States, 1893-1976 (Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893–1976). Terra Foundation for American Art and Pinacoteca de São Paulo (organizers). Venue: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 2022–January 30, 2023. [exh. cat.]

Duffy, Betty and Douglas. The Graphic Work of Howard Cook: A Catalogue Raisonné. Bethesda, Maryland: Bethesda Art Gallery, 1984. No. 96, pp. 12, 21, 36; ill. p. 86.

American Master Prints from the Betty and Douglas Duffy Collection. Washington, D.C.: The Trust for Museum Exhibitions, 1987. No. 24.

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Lauren Kroiz, and Leo G. Mazow. America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper. Oxford, United Kingdom: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology–University of Oxford, 2018. Ill. pp. 42, 117, cat. no.11 (color).

Piccoli, Valéria, Fernanda Pitta, and Taylor Poulin. Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893-1976. (exh. cat., Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo and Terra Foundation for American Art). São Paulo, Brazil: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2022. Text p. 38; pl. p. 42 (color).