This early work from 1955 by Dong Kingman is as surreal as it is a document of a place. The artist effectively captures a slice of American urban life but constructs the composition with disparate bits and pieces of imagery assembled into one scene.
Study this work and discover how many faces, hands, people, and horses behinds you find layered on walls and smokestacks. They are woven into the fabric of this urban landscape. Most likely, this is a view of midtown Manhattan from Long Island City. The tall white building is a representation of the Empire State Building.
Kingman's later work of pretty landscapes departs from his early urban surrealism.
Signed lower right.
Provenance: Midtown Galleries, New York, New York, purchased in 1968 (accompanied by a facsimile documents and a valuation from the gallery); Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence C. Kline; by descent in family

Condition: very good