Rainy Night, Charing Cross Shops
Joseph Pennell American
Not on view
Pennell, a Philadelphia-born Quaker, spent the first two decades of his career abroad, living primarily in London, where he became a close associate of Whistler. Here, he depicts the Strand on a rainy night with figures beneath umbrellas and in horsedrawn carriages hurrying past the Chairing Cross Hotel and railway station entrance. Densely laid slanted lines suggest falling rain with passages of white paper used to convey bright electric light reflected off the wet pavement. The elevated, off-center viewpoint, and diagonal lines of the composition recall such celebrated ukiyo-e prints as Hiroshige's "Sudden Shower over Ohashi Bridge at Atake."
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