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The Cathedrals of Art

1942
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 910
In this series of four monumental paintings executed between 1929 and 1942, Stettheimer created extraordinary composite visions of New York’s economic, social, and cultural institutions. The Cathedrals of Art is a fantastical portrait of the New York art world. Microcosms of three of the city’s major museums and their collections are watched over by their directors: the Museum of Modern Art (upper left), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (center), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (upper right). A gathering of art critics, dealers, and photographers of the day, including Stettheimer herself (lower right), appears around the Metropolitan’s grand staircase. See MMA 53.24.2, 53.24.3, and 53.24.4 for the other three paintings in the series.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Cathedrals of Art
  • Artist: Florine Stettheimer (American, Rochester, New York 1871–1944 New York, New York)
  • Date: 1942
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 60 1/4 × 50 1/4 in. (153 × 127.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Ettie Stettheimer, 1953
  • Object Number: 53.24.1
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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The Cathedrals of Broadway, Florine Stettheimer American, Oil on canvas
The Cathedrals of Broadway
Florine Stettheimer
1929
The Cathedrals of Wall Street, Florine Stettheimer American, Oil on canvas
The Cathedrals of Wall Street
Florine Stettheimer
1939
The Cathedrals of Fifth Avenue, Florine Stettheimer American, Oil on canvas
The Cathedrals of Fifth Avenue
Florine Stettheimer
1931
Henry McBride on Winslow Homer
Florine Stettheimer
ca. 1924
Black Abstraction, Georgia O'Keeffe American, Oil on canvas
Black Abstraction
Georgia O'Keeffe
1927

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