Looking up Broadway in Los Angeles
Date1913
MediumWatercolor, gouache, and chalk on board
Dimensions23 x 19 in. (58.4 x 48.3 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of The Hilbert Collection
Object number2020.211
DescriptionBroadway is one of the oldest streets in Los Angeles. Originally named Fort Street, the name was changed to Broadway in 1890, and with the advent of the motion picture industry in L.A., the street became the city's premiere entertainment and movie-palace district.In this mixed-media painting by Robson, we look up Broadway on a busy night in 1913. You can see one of the "Red Car" electric trains in the center of the street, along with many automobiles. Fashionably dressed people stroll the sidewalks. Visible are signs for two of the many movie palaces: the Garrick and the Morosco.
Robson carried out his work in a style similar to pointillism (he had worked in France, so was familiar with the style), with many short strokes of color. He would go on to do a lot of Hollywood artwork, including working for both Howard Hughes and Walt Disney, and he was one of the key scene painters on "The Wizard of Oz."
At a low point in his life, shortly before his death in 1946, Robson took most of his paintings out to his back yard and burned them, so very few of his works survive. The Huntington Library, the Crocker Museum and the Hilbert Museum are fortunate to have some of his works in our collections.
On View
Not on viewCollections
