Most New Yorkers probably don’t think too much about their apartment hallway. It’s a typically narrow, empty space closed off by shut doors that we only pass through to get to the elevator or stairwell.
Artist Charles L. Goeller decided to use a hallway as the inspiration of this undated painting. “Tenement Hallway,” as Goeller titled it, may seem flat and one-dimensional at first glance. But the more you look at it, the more it comes alive.
The bright light, rich paint, and gold in the carpet give the hallway a vibrant, lively feel. It feels open as well, with the angled door of the apartment in the distance and the curved wood of the banister leading downstairs.
Born in 1901, Goeller found success in the early and middle decades of the 20th century as a Precisionist painter of colorful, geometric still lifes, portraits (see his self-portrait, below), and landscapes. His early education, however, was in architecture. His approach here is to give dimension and emotion to flat surfaces.
I have no idea exactly where this tenement hallway is located. Goeller lived most of his life in New Jersey, though he did reside in New York City in the 1930s, exhibiting his work at galleries.
One of his paintings depicts the Third Avenue El and part of a city streetscape around East 19th Street. The Smithsonian Institute states that he “lived just a few doors east of this corner.” So perhaps this tenement hallway was likely in Gramercy.
[Top image: Schoelkopf Gallery; second Image: Smithsonian Institute]
