GUY CARLETON WIGGINS (AMERICAN 1883-1962) "AT THE LIBRARY NEW YORK"

Signed 'Guy Carleton Wiggins NA' bottom right; also titled and signed verso, oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 25 1/4 in. (76.8 x 64.1cm)

Provenance: Private Collection, Midland, Texas.
Roughton Galleries, Dallas, Texas.
Acquired directly from the above in 2003.
Private Collection, Los Angeles, California.
NOTE:
The present painting depicts a blizzard in Manhattan in which the viewer is looking down 5th Avenue which runs north through the heart of the city. Seen here, the main branch of the New York Public Library on 42nd Street was founded in 1895 and is one of 88 neighborhood branches which make up America's largest public library system. The library's steps are featured in the left half of the composition, prominently displaying the iconic lion statues which flank the stairway into the well-known building. The sharp corners and pointy spires of nearby structures are softened and blurred by heavily falling snow. A line of pedestrians walk toward the viewer in front of the library, and away from the viewer on the opposite side of the street, giving the feeling of a push and pull as cars and people alike make their way through the storm. Soothing yellow lights can be seen shining from windows surrounding the scene, adding a sense of warm and calm to an otherwise turbulent vignette.
The present lot has been authenticated by Guy A. Wiggins, the son of the artist, in a letter dated 2003.