Unlawful Assembly, Union Square
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Union Square in downtown Manhattan was a popular site for protests in the early years of the Depression. Laning’s composition focuses on the chaotic aftermath of one such demonstration, with a crowd being broken up by police officers on horseback. An abandoned, wordless protest sign in the foreground alludes to the event’s dissenting character.
Laning participated in the revival of tempera, a painting technique commonly used in Europe during the Renaissance. Noted for its thin, precise, hard-edged brushstrokes, tempera naturally lent itself to figural realism. Laning was also inspired by sculptural friezes carved in high relief from the ancient world. His work merged traditional artistic methods with contemporary subject matter.
Laning participated in the revival of tempera, a painting technique commonly used in Europe during the Renaissance. Noted for its thin, precise, hard-edged brushstrokes, tempera naturally lent itself to figural realism. Laning was also inspired by sculptural friezes carved in high relief from the ancient world. His work merged traditional artistic methods with contemporary subject matter.
Artwork Details
- Title: Unlawful Assembly, Union Square
- Artist: Edward Laning (American, Petersburg, Illinois 1906–1981 New York)
- Date: 1931
- Medium: Oil and tempera on linen, mounted on paperboard
- Dimensions: 14 3/16 × 36 in. (36 × 91.4 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Gift of Isabel Bishop
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints