A Glimpse Over Hell’s Kitchen Rooftops: Edmund Yaghjian’s Art Captures 1930s New York

An artist’s view over the rooftops of Hell’s Kitchen provides an intriguing peek into New York City in the 1930s.

Night in Manhattan , which shows a view looking southeast from W56th Street towards the Empire State Building, is one in a series of oil paintings by artist Edmund Yaghjian which offer a glimpse into Manhattan nearly a century ago, with the bright lights of Times Square bubbling up over the rooftops. In 1936, the Empire State Building was much shorter; it wasn’t until 1950 that the 222-foot antenna that we see today was installed.

Walking past a Chelsea gallery, onlookers are first greeted by another image: a bustling W42nd Street is filled with crowds competing for attention as they file across the canvas (and 7th Avenue), while cars and a trolley weave their way through this 100-year-old, yet somehow timeless, New York scene. In the background is the Art Deco Tower, the McGraw-Hill building , which is now surrounded by modern-day glass and steel. While the physical environs may have evolved, the city’s spirit, as depicted in the painting’s bright color palette, remains intact.

Inside the 10th Avenue gallery, the painting El Crossing 53rd Street shows a nocturnal scene equally bustling with urban life, looking towards the former elevated train line that once ran down 8th Avenue. Visible is Hotel Empire, which still stands on W63rd St and Columbus Avenue.

These paintings by Yaghjian are part of Summer in The City , a group show at American Contemporary Art Gallery ( ACA Galleries ), that brings together artists past and present from across the gallery’s nearly 100-year history. Other works in the show by Yaghjian include scenes of Central Park at night, and industrial activity on the East River.

Edmund Yaghjian was born in Armenia in the early 1900s and raised in a community of migrant Armenians in Providence, Rhode Island. He spent a decade in New York during the 1930s. During that time, his son David Yaghjian, who is also a painter, told W42ST that he fell in love with the city and its bustling life. He lived in Hell’s Kitchen, on W56th Street.

“He worked extremely hard,” David said. “He walked everywhere, as a lot of New Yorkers do, and he loved the city. He would talk about how little it cost him to live there — of course, it was the 1930s!” His paintings capture “the energy of the city, the mood of the city, temperature of the city,” he added.

Edmund Yaghjian arrived in America in the years leading up to the Armenian genocide , David said.  “They were fleeing for their lives and to come to this country with this openness and these millions of people everywhere, this incredible mix of people,” said David, who remembers his father talking about meeting Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky during his time in New York.

Yaghjian, who graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, taught at the highly-regarded Art Students League . Most of his paintings were based on sketches he drew as he walked around the city, David said, although he also painted while sitting in the Times Building in Times Square.

In the 1940s Yaghjian left New York, settling in Columbia, South Carolina where he chaired the art department at the University of South Carolina. While his time in New York City was relatively short, it left a strong impression on him, and on his family. A painting of Times Square hung over the family’s fireplace, and “me and my sisters sat and absorbed it,” David recalled.

Yaghjian’s work evolved throughout his career. After moving to South Carolina, many of his paintings depicted southern life, with a particular interest in African American communities. His realist style also shifted to become more abstract. He passed away in 1997, well into his 90s.

Throughout his life Yaghjian was a dedicated teacher, David said, and he spent his last decades teaching painting at senior centers.

Ironically, however, “he didn’t teach me,” recalled David. “He said just, you know, go paint.”

Summer In The City is on display at ACA Galleries (173 10th Avenue at the corner of W20th St) through July 26. All of the artists in the show either taught or studied at the Art Students League.

On July 17, ACA will participate in the Art Dealers Association of America art walk , hosting a reception with artists from the show, including Yaghjian’s granddaughter, from 6 to 8pm.

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