Drydock and Repair (Primary Title)
Edmund D. Lewandowski, American, 1914 - 1998 (Artist)
In the mid- and late 1940s, the Milwaukee-born modernist Edmund Lewandowski produced works depicting the shipyards at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and their dry docks—narrow basins that can be emptied of water for construction and repair of marine craft. Probably a study for his 1946 oil painting Dry Dock, this image simplifies the nautical infrastructure into a flattened, hard-edged study and an almost decorative grid—a composite of sites at the shipyards. Lewandowski tapers the crane beams at left and right so that they resemble radio towers, framing the three red-white-and-blue funnels. These in turn crown the abstract array of red, orange, pink, and brown rectangle and trapezoid shapes. Lewandowski once commented, “Our machines are as representative of our culture as temples and sculpture were of the Greeks. They are classically beautiful and represent physically the material progress that the nation has made.”
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.