UPTOWN /DOWNTOWN

German American artist Richard Lindner (1901-1978) fled his home country at the rise of Nazism. After a few years working as a graphic designer in Paris, in 1941 he moved to New York City where he became an illustrator for prominent magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Lindner’s experience of the city of New York, especially the underbelly of the urban center, informed his painting and his graphic work throughout his mature career. Erotic, bold, colorful, and often humorous, Lindner’s imagery is rooted in the nocturnal life of the cabarets, the busy streets, and the characters that inhabit them. His fascination with New York is at the core of these works as are his memories of Munich and Berlin. In these cities he saw the emergence of artistic trends such as Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), which rebelled against the romanticization of reality and greatly influenced the artist throughout his career. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Lindner worked as a commercial artist for years and transitioned to painting when he was in his 50s.

Uptown/Downtown features the fourteen prints contained in the Fun City portfolio created in 1971. The depictions of the city’s eccentric dwellers vibrate off the paper through the creative use of design elements, explorations with lenticular technology, and pulsating color juxtapositions.

This exhibition is organized by the Cornell Fine Arts Museum.