The Coffee House

In The Coffee House, Alson Skinner Clark captured the sensations of a wintry day in Chicago. The painting offers a view across the curving ironwork of the State Street Bridge, with ice floating along the river below and the city’s rising skyline beyond. The scene recalls the urban subjects of French Impressionism, such as the work of Claude Monet. With open brushwork and a jewellike palette, Clark conveyed the fleeting, atmospheric effects of light, fog, and smoke among the geometric forms of the city.