Description:
Visual Description: This vertical oil painting depicts a dense urban scene characterized by tall, rectangular buildings. The view extends upward to a clear blue sky. In the lower section, seven distinguishable cyclists ride from the viewer's right to the middle along a dark brown road. They lean forward on their bicycles, wearing orange and white short-sleeved shirts, dark shorts, and dark shoes. Behind them, large brown cylindrical metal pipes run horizontally across the painting. Behind the pipes, numerous tall concrete columns or smokestacks stand upright, releasing white steam or smoke between them. A person dressed in brown stands facing the structures. A tall scaffolding-like frame of brown metal beams rises above this area. Several multi-story apartment buildings crowd the rest of the composition. Their façades are painted in pale colors, such as beige, peach, and gray, and some are decorated with small, multicolored square patterns. Rows of evenly spaced windows fill the buildings, sparingly showing people inside the flats. Rooftops display antennas and metal frameworks. A few birch saplings appear near the street level. The sky above the city scene is rendered in a flat, uniform blue. (Wasifa Orthy '26)
Label Text:
This composition underscores the theme of youth, which is conveyed through the motifs of new construction, the beginning of a new day, and the young trees planted in the neighborhood. The city depicted—Sumy—was besieged by Russian forces in the spring of 2022. Although it was not captured, it has suffered significant damage from intense bombardment over the last three years.
MT, 2025
Tags:
painting; cities; sidewalks; roads; people Subjects:
Painting; Cities and towns; Human beings; Roads; Canvas Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2020.20 |
