Depicting an industrial mill complex in a flat, angular style, Spencer’s Waterfront Mill, like Charles Sheeler’s Water, notably lacks signs of human presence and activity. The mill is pristinely painted with clean edges and smooth brushwork; there is no evidence of age or wear-and-tear. Thus, Spencer’s composition, based on a historical mill in Bristol, Rhode Island, appears as an emblem of timeless efficiency. Interest in such examples of vernacular architecture spiked among artists after the end of World War I and through World War II, partly because their no-nonsense design seemed to exemplify the phrase "form follows function," coined by architect Louis Sullivan.
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Title:Waterfront Mill
Artist:Niles Spencer (American, Pawtucket, Rhode Island 1893–1952 Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania)
Date:1940
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:30 × 36 in. (76.2 × 91.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1942
Accession Number:42.169
Inscription: Signed (lower right): NILES SPENCER
the artist, New York (1940–42; sold through Downtown Gallery, New York to MMA)
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Paintings by Leading American Artists," October 17–November 16, 1940, no. 11.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art," December 7, 1942–February 22, 1943, unnumbered cat. (p. 11; awarded a Sixth Prize).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory: Prize Winners," March 8–May 10, 1943, no catalogue.
Boston. Institute of Modern Art. "Artists for Victory: Prize Winners," May 22–June 19, 1943, no catalogue.
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Loan Exhibition: A Selection of Outstanding Paintings and Sculptures by Leading Exponents of Progressive American Art and a Group of 19th Century Art," October 15–November 3, 1945, no. 21.
Akron Art Institute. "America Paints Outdoors: The 1946 Summer Exhibition of Paintings Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art," June 14–September 3, 1946.
New York. Downtown Gallery. "In 1940... An Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by Leading Americans," March 14–April 1, 1950, no. 21.
American Federation of Arts circulating exhibition. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," January 1951–November 1952 (lent to numerous U.S. venues, including those listed below), no catalogue (checklist no. 18).
Hagerstown, Md. Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," April 1951.
Nashville. Watkins Institute. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," November 5–25, 1951.
Montgomery, Ala. Montgomery Museum of Art. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," December 1951.
Abilene, Tex. Abilene Museum of Fine Arts. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," April 7–20, 1952.
Shreveport. Louisiana State Exhibit Museum. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," May 11–25, 1952.
South Hadley, Mass. Dwight Art Memorial, Mount Holyoke College. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," November 6–25, 1952.
Akron Art Institute. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," January–February 1954, no catalogue.
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," March–April 1954, no catalogue.
Manchester, N.H. Currier Gallery of Art. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," May–June 2, 1954, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," June 23–August 15, 1954, no catalogue.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," September 1–October 1, 1954, no catalogue.
Lexington. University of Kentucky Art Gallery. "Niles Spencer," October 10–November 6, 1965, no. 86.
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. "Niles Spencer," November 16–December 19, 1965, no. 86.
Portland, Me. Portland Museum of Art. "Niles Spencer," January 6–30, 1966, no. 86.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Niles Spencer," February 8–March 6, 1966, no. 86.
Allentown, Penn. Allentown Art Museum. "Niles Spencer," March 15–April 8, 1966, no. 86.
Manchester, N. H. Currier Gallery of Art. "Niles Spencer," April 15–May 8, 1966, no. 86.
Providence. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. "Niles Spencer," May 20–June 12, 1966, no. 86.
Newark Museum. "Niles Spencer: Friends and Influences," June 30–September 4, 1972, unnum. checklist.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," September 9–November 7, 1982, no. 113.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," December 6, 1982–January 30, 1983, no. 113.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," February 28–April 25, 1983, no. 113.
Des Moines Art Center. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," May 23–July 17, 1983, no. 113.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," August 15–October 9, 1983, no. 113.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center. "Niles Spencer," April 25–June 20, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 24).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting: 1905–1950," April 19–October 7, 1991, no catalogue.
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. "Precisionism in America, 1915–1941: Reordering Reality," May 7–July 4, 1995, no. 84.
Lincoln, Neb. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. "Precisionism in America, 1915–1941: Reordering Reality," September 5–November 5, 1995, no. 84.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory," October 1, 1996–January 12, 1997, extended to January 22, 1997, no catalogue.
Oxford, England. Ashmolean Museum. "America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper," March 23–July 22, 2018, no. 71.
Jeannette Lowe. "51st Street Becomes Downtown: A Lower Manhattan Institution Moves 38 Blocks North." Art News 39 (October 19, 1940), p. 12.
A. Hyatt Mayor. Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art. A Picture Book of the Prize Winners. New York, 1942, unpaginated, ill.
"Artists for Victory Score Victory in Metropolitan Exhibition." Art Digest 17 (December 15, 1942), p. 6.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Artists for Victory: Afterthoughts on the Huge Nation-Wide Survey at the Metropolitan Museum." New York Times (December 20, 1942), p. X9.
"Record Art Show Has $52,000 Prizes." New York Times (December 8, 1942), p. 30.
Alfred M. Frankfurter. "The Artists for Victory Exhibition: The Paintings." Art News 41 (January 1–14, 1943), p. 12, ill. p. 9.
Roy R. Neuberger. "Artists for Victory." Art in America 31 (January 1943), p. 54.
Ben Wolf. "Edith Halpert, Art Crusader, Marks Two Decades of Success." Art Digest 20 (October 15, 1945), p. 10.
"Niles Spencer, 58, Painted Industry." New York Times (May 17, 1952), p. 19.
"Paintings of Famed American Artists to Be Shown Monday." Abilene Reporter-News (April 6, 1952), p. 7-B.
"Niles Spencer, American Painter." Currier Gallery of Art Bulletin (May–June 1954), unpaginated, ill.
John Loughery. "Early Moderns: Benton, Marin, Spencer." Hudson Review 43 (Autumn 1990), p. 465.
Ellsworth Kelly (American, Newburgh, New York 1923–2015 Spencertown, New York)
1977
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