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Items associated with breakfast—two eggs, a bun, and a glass with transparent liquid—are arranged on a severely tilted tabletop. Racing diagonally across the composition is a ribbon of fabric that looks like a pattern for an embroidered border, possibly a design in the tablecloth, although it extends beyond the table’s edge in the upper right. On the right are a toy chicken and a stylized floral design sprouting from a basket. The objects cast deep shadows, in contrast to the flatness of the geometric pattern and floral design. In the dark, in the upper left corner, is a late 1920s-style automobile that introduces a menacing element.
The spatial dynamism of the composition, the use of still life motifs, and the tabletop relate to early phases of Cubism, when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque explored how objects were perceived in space and time and struggled with how to represent them on a two-dimensional surface. Lozowick crisply delineated everything that he depicted, including the transparency of the glass, a reflection of the hard edges and technical virtuosity of Precisionism. The hard-to-explain combination of things is typical of Surrealism; like dreams, images appear in nonsensical relationships. Even though connections can be made with contemporary artistic trends, Breakfast is a singularly unusual print, typical of Lozowick’s aesthetic.
Breakfast does represent disparate elements, but is unified by consistent realism, diagonal bands, and tonal treatment. For Lozowick, tone was all-important, as he wrote in an article that appeared shortly after he created this lithograph: “The best results for every art are achieved within its own proper field, and for lithography it is tone in infinite gradation, from the most subdued, softest silvery grays to the blackest velvety black. The grainy surface of the stone lends the tone a special specific textural quality.” Lozowick exploited his chosen medium and was inventive with it; he used a variety of crayons, scraped and polished his stones and zinc plates, and traced designs such as the embroidery pattern with lead pencils through ordinary carbon paper. [1] Breakfast beautifully exemplifies his facility and accomplishes the results he sought: black velvety tones that imply a somewhat sinister mood, offset by the luminous glow of the eggs, glass, and bun.
Notes:
[1] Lozowick, “Lithography, Abstraction, and Realism,” Space (March 1930), in Esther Forman Singer, “The Lithographs of Louis Lozowick,” American Artist (November 1973), 39, and Janet A. Flint, The Prints of Louis Lozowick: A Catalogue Raisonné (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1982), 22.
ProvenanceTo 1983
Glenn C. Peck, New York. [1]
From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Glenn C. Peck on December 6, 1983. [2]
Notes:
[1] Collections Committee minutes, December 6, 1983, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History
Haskell, Barbara. Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2018. pg. 72.
DepartmentAmerican Art
Breakfast
Artist
Louis Lozowick
(1892 - 1973)
Date1930
Mediumlithograph
DimensionsFrame: 20 1/4 x 16 1/8 in. (51.4 x 41 cm)
Image: 10 3/8 x 7 15/16 in. (26.4 x 20.2 cm)
SignedLouis Lozowick '30
Credit LineGift of Glenn C. Peck
CopyrightDue to rights restrictions this image can not be enlarged or viewed at full screen.
Object number1983.2.9
DescriptionLouis Lozowick’s Breakfast is a synthesis of early Modernist styles: Cubism, Precisionism, and even Surrealism, all of which he had encountered during his sojourn in Europe, 1919¬–1924. It is also a supreme example of his talent with tonal lithography.Items associated with breakfast—two eggs, a bun, and a glass with transparent liquid—are arranged on a severely tilted tabletop. Racing diagonally across the composition is a ribbon of fabric that looks like a pattern for an embroidered border, possibly a design in the tablecloth, although it extends beyond the table’s edge in the upper right. On the right are a toy chicken and a stylized floral design sprouting from a basket. The objects cast deep shadows, in contrast to the flatness of the geometric pattern and floral design. In the dark, in the upper left corner, is a late 1920s-style automobile that introduces a menacing element.
The spatial dynamism of the composition, the use of still life motifs, and the tabletop relate to early phases of Cubism, when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque explored how objects were perceived in space and time and struggled with how to represent them on a two-dimensional surface. Lozowick crisply delineated everything that he depicted, including the transparency of the glass, a reflection of the hard edges and technical virtuosity of Precisionism. The hard-to-explain combination of things is typical of Surrealism; like dreams, images appear in nonsensical relationships. Even though connections can be made with contemporary artistic trends, Breakfast is a singularly unusual print, typical of Lozowick’s aesthetic.
Breakfast does represent disparate elements, but is unified by consistent realism, diagonal bands, and tonal treatment. For Lozowick, tone was all-important, as he wrote in an article that appeared shortly after he created this lithograph: “The best results for every art are achieved within its own proper field, and for lithography it is tone in infinite gradation, from the most subdued, softest silvery grays to the blackest velvety black. The grainy surface of the stone lends the tone a special specific textural quality.” Lozowick exploited his chosen medium and was inventive with it; he used a variety of crayons, scraped and polished his stones and zinc plates, and traced designs such as the embroidery pattern with lead pencils through ordinary carbon paper. [1] Breakfast beautifully exemplifies his facility and accomplishes the results he sought: black velvety tones that imply a somewhat sinister mood, offset by the luminous glow of the eggs, glass, and bun.
Notes:
[1] Lozowick, “Lithography, Abstraction, and Realism,” Space (March 1930), in Esther Forman Singer, “The Lithographs of Louis Lozowick,” American Artist (November 1973), 39, and Janet A. Flint, The Prints of Louis Lozowick: A Catalogue Raisonné (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1982), 22.
ProvenanceTo 1983
Glenn C. Peck, New York. [1]
From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Glenn C. Peck on December 6, 1983. [2]
Notes:
[1] Collections Committee minutes, December 6, 1983, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History
Haskell, Barbara. Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2018. pg. 72.
Status
Not on viewCollections