Frederick Brosen

In Frederick Brosen’s stunning watercolors, the quotidian corners of grand cities—namely New York, Paris, Rome, and Florence—become iconic views in and of themselves. For the artist’s seventh solo show with Hirschl & Adler Modern, Brosen continues his career-long celebration of New York while also turning his gaze to the postcard-worthy shores of Provincetown, Massachusetts. In twelve new watercolors, two seemingly disparate landscapes are united by the artist’s masterful touch. Although Provincetown’s population of 3,000 is miniscule in comparison to New York’s overwhelming population of 8.5 million, Brosen renders these two distinct locations with the same sense of placidity and intimacy.

In his New York works, people are few and far between. Brosen manages to stop time for us, giving the viewer the sense that they are alone, that they have the city—or this piece of it, at least—to themselves. In the watercolor Grand Street and Broadway, one has to search to find umbrellaed pedestrians; far more central are the mirror-like puddles that catch pieces of the moody sky and edges of the street’s architecture, the lonely streetlight that guards the rain-slick pavement gleaming in the soft light.

The architecture of New York has long been a focal point in Brosen’s watercolors. But rather than approaching it with an architect’s academic sensibility, he instead opts for the honesty and reverence that only a New Yorker could muster. He portrays the old and the new of the city side-by-side, emphasizing the poetics of weather-worn facades and imperfectly kept streets juxtaposed with neon signs and ever-changing storefronts.

In his views of Provincetown, such as Lobster Pot, Provincetown, Brosen again displays his expert handling of the medium by rendering the glowing lettering of the restaurant’s sign with a vibrancy rarely seen in watercolor. We enjoy the solitude he has carved out as we are lulled into the haze and slower pace of summer.

Of his chosen venues, Brosen writes:

New York, my hometown, is embedded with deep associations that go back to my childhood. Provincetown came on my radar as a young adult, and like some of my favorite European cities, has been an episodic part of my life … an important place, but one of chapters rather than a continuous narrative. However, the qualities I came to know and love, the bay, walking the flats,  the 19th century whalers’ houses, the galleries, restaurants and open liberal atmosphere, have remained the same. As I have changed over the years these constants have created an emotional touchstone for me.

This sense of continuity is palpable in his work. The Lobster Pot has been around since 1979, and Flyer’s Boat Rental since 1944. There is comfort in sameness, a sense of serenity. Therein lies the crux of the relationship between the two places. In Provincetown, Brosen finds tranquility in consistency, the pleasure of returning to the same places to find they haven’t changed. In New York, he finds it despite ever-shifting surroundings, unifying the familiar with the unfamiliar, old New York with the New York of the present.