Under the Freeway
Artist
Edward Biberman
(1904 - 1986)
Datec.1950
MediumOil on board
Dimensions14 x 39 in. (35.6 x 99.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineThe Hilbert Collection
Object numberBib-2
DescriptionPhiladelphia-born Edward Biberman moved to Los Angeles in 1936, and the city inspired many of his finest paintings. Many of his best-known art pieces are Social Realist works that directly address issues of poverty, racism and inequality.Biberman once stated he had four areas of interest: “the earth and its visual riches, the people upon it, the forms and structures they have added to it, and man’s relation to his fellows, in turn tragic and heroic.”
In this painting, Biberman turns his attention to the dramatic changes occurring in downtown Los Angeles. The new freeway systems must have seemed absolutely futuristic as they left the ground and flew through the air, crisscrossing the city’s center.
Here he captures the streamlined, sculptural qualities of the L.A. freeways, set against an almost abstract sky of varying blues - and even an incongruous patch of green. The two tiny Giacometti-esque human figures are dwarfed by the immense forms of the overpasses.
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