Florine Stettheimer in 10 Paintings—A Portrait of Jazz Age New York

After Stettheimer returned to New York in the 1910s, her artistic pursuits evolved into a distinct personal style. Her paintings are characterized by an almost experimental verve of Fauvist color, uneven perspectives, and sleek figures in a celebratory yet sardonic collage of myriad subjects. They put into focus, perhaps more so than any other painter’s work, the aesthetic of the Jazz Age—the Roaring Twenties. They would seem entirely at home in the Art Deco apartments, department store settings, and sensational newspaper headline montages riddled throughout Hollywood films of the 1930s.

1. Music, 1920

Like most of Stettheimer’s paintings, Music portrays real people as sleek, elongated figures. Vaclav Nijinsky, a ballet dancer, is the seemingly centrifugal force of this composition. The curvature of her body is dynamic, representing the movements of her profession. There is a subtle, radiant glow around her, emphasizing the mystique of her craft. Stettheimer depicts herself to the left in her own bed, canopied with a lace covering.

Another figure plays the piano to the right while the bottom figure appears to be lying on an elegant cushion with legs in the air, perhaps in a performance art scene. The piece is almost surreal in its rhythm and movement, modernist in its space and lithe figures, and uniquely Stettheimer in its soft-hued colors and personal touch.

2. Studio Party (Soirée), 1917–1919

Studio Party is Stettheimer’s depiction of one of the numerous parties she hosted for patrons and artists of the art world’s upper echelons. “Seen in color and design/It amuses me/To recreate them/To paint them,” she wrote in an accompanying poem. She called these VIP assemblages “birthday parties.” Rendered in Stettheimer’s signature pastel hues and subjective space, figures sit around on chairs, the couch, and even the floor, perhaps conversing about art.

Two men in the bottom left pensively study a canvas we cannot see. Knowing that Stettheimer displayed her work at these gatherings, it might be one of hers. The painting could also be a work in progress, as this party is taking place in her studio. The painting behind everyone, at the top of the composition, is Stettheimer’s nude self-portrait, which resembles Manet’s Olympia.

3. The Cathedrals of Broadway, 1929

The first painting of Stettheimer’s Cathedral series is an assortment of the majesty of Broadway in 1920s New York City. This work encapsulates the distractions that occupied Americans as the Great Depression began to wreak havoc. There are nods to both theater and cinema: great theaters of the time can be spotted, such as the Strand, Rialto, and the Roxy. Signs and marquees promote “talkies,” then the newest craze of Hollywood. The painting’s title and Stettheimer’s name can be seen on a red curtain in the top left.

Elegantly dressed patrons stand by the ticket booth or are ushered inside by decorous theater workers. The follies and live performances take center stage below a newsreel of Mayor Jimmy Walker inaugurating the new baseball season. This work is another brilliant example of Stettheimer’s ability to present the wonder of her subjects while undercutting them with a bite of contextual reality: the vibrancy of Broadway escapism cannot fully conceal the darkness of the Depression just around the corner.

4. The Cathedrals of Wall Street, 1939

Capitalism is on full display in a later version of Stettheimer’s Cathedral paintings. The Great Depression that ravaged the 1930s did not completely stifle big business and all the major financial firms. Democracy and money go hand in hand in this imaginary, gilded collage of the New York Stock Exchange. Both facilitators and victims of American capitalism adorn the painting.

The Salvation Army is dwarfed by the names of J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. A marching band and U.S color guards march through the street. To their right is an affluent couple, respective Army and Navy officers, and a Native American chief. Stettheimer, again, adds a touch of the personal. She is the figure in red to the bottom right, handing a bouquet of flowers to the large George Washington statue outside of the Subtreasury Building (now the Federal Hall).

5. Portrait of Marcel Duchamp and Rrose Sélavy, 1923

This painting by Stettheimer is especially charming thanks to its subject. It is a portrait of both Marcel Duchamp and his female alter ego Rrose Sélavy. Duchamp sits in a chair emblazoned with his initials and the American and French flags. With his legs crossed, he holds a long, thin lever that appears to be handling the sturdy springs that hold up the chair on which Rrose Sélavy weightlessly sits. Just behind them is a large concentric circle with a minuscule clock at its center. A horse-head sculpture, framed by an open window, floats just above Duchamp—a clever homage to one of the founders of Dadaism.

6. Sunday Afternoon in the Country, 1917

A dog and a squirrel join the vignettes of slinky figures that grace the bottom of this composition. A pink path in the center leads to an arch, behind which is a colorful array of trees and park vegetation. The people here blend in with their surroundings, part of both nature and the lively fray below the arch. Just like all of Stettheimer’s paintings, this piece is as dazzling in its dynamism as it is in its confetti colors. Every figure is engaged in some activity, whether it is eating, drinking, socializing, playing a game or an instrument, or even doing a handstand.

7. Fete on the Lake

A bonfire burns for an unknown celebration on a lake. Even for a scene in the dark, Stettheimer’s color palette is dazzling. The lighting is striking, coruscating off the lake as it reflects the fire and lights from a port in the background. Each canoe has one figure rowing and one resting leisurely. Some are bent, with legs splayed, others lean, with legs crossed. One wonders if this took place in a country home owned by one of Stettheimer’s wealthy friends.

8. Henry McBride on Winslow Homer, 1924

This piece features the American critic Henry McBride, a prominent figure in the New York City art scene and an admirer of Stettheimer’s work. Winslow Homer was McBride’s favorite 19th-century painter. Therefore, in her typical droll style, Stettheimer places him in a reproduction of one of Homer’s paintings. In this mixed media on paper, McBride holds onto the titular palm tree seen in Winslow Homer’s painting, Palm Tree, Nassau, from 1898.

9. Cathedrals of Art, 1939

Just like the other works of her Cathedral series, Cathedrals of Art is Stettheimer’s manifestation of another distinct world of New York City—the art world. Naturally, all three major art museums of the city are represented: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. A smorgasbord of figures, including art critics, photographers, museum workers, and artists, is portrayed in Stettheimer’s fluid brushstrokes and pale colors. The artist places herself amidst the ballyhoo. Painting the spectacle is not tribute enough; in the bottom right, she again proffers a bouquet of flowers.

10. Spring Sale at Bendel’s, 1921

Spring Sale at Bendel’s is the epitome of Stettheimer’s style and inclinations, perhaps even more so than the Cathedral paintings. The department store is a unique location for an artist to depict. While a critical, mocking eye can certainly be interpreted from this scene, it is counterbalanced by an evident affection for the chaos of shopping. Her signature sinuous figures are at their most contorted, colorful, and frenetic in this painting.

Women scan the store, pose before mirrors, struggle trying on dresses, and flaunt their splendid gowns. The red stairs to the left and the curtain to the right seem to close in on the shoppers, emphasizing the urgency to indulge in the purchase of a luxurious garment. Stettheimer’s two sisters, Ettie and Carrie, appear in her place this time. Stettheimer herself, however, undoubtedly partook in the frenzy of sales at deluxe stores such as Bendel’s.