Brooklyn Museum: American Art: Crawford Notch, New Hampshire

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Crawford Notch, New Hampshire

Israel Litwak was born in Odessa, then part of Russia. He emigrated to the United States in 1903, settling in Brooklyn and working as a cabinetmaker. He began to paint after retiring at age sixty-eight. Litwak recorded the urban scene as well as place visited on vacations such as the subject shown here. Crawford Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire had often been celebrated by nineteenth-century, but Litwak's image is very much his own invention. "One achieves good painting by imagination, talent, patience and a lot of hard work," he wrote. "I look . . . just to get an idea; then I go home and make it the I want it, not the way it is."

Artist: Israel Litwak, American, 1867-1960
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dates: 1951
Dimensions: 22 x 32 in. (55.9 x 81.3 cm)
Signature: Signed lower right: "Israel Litwak 1951"
Collections: American Art
Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Making Art: Centennial Era, 5th Floor
Accession Number: 75.180
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Nisnewitz
Copyright: © Estate of Israel Litwak
Image: Overall, 75.180.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2005