Mid-Century Modernist Abstract Cityscape, Oil on Masonite, Framed

An architectural abstraction in oil on Masonite, built from a dense lattice of black structural lines over fractured planes of slate blue, cream, salmon, ochre, and muted rose. The upper register breaks into stained-glass-like geometry — clustered spires, gridded windows, a single arched gable rising near center — while the lower half resolves into broad, quieter color fields anchored by a vertical salmon-orange bar. Paint is scumbled and dragged throughout, letting underlying tones breathe through the surface in a technique characteristic of serious studio practice rather than decorative work.

The composition's vertical thrust and steepled forms dissolve cathedral-and-rooftop motifs into pure structure — an idiom shared by a generation of 1960s painters navigating the space between figuration and abstraction. The palette, handling, and material character are consistent with that decade; the work invites comparison to painters such as Muriel Cayet, Robert Conover, and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, all of whom worked this same tension between architectural memory and pictorial field. The panel carries no markings of any kind — no signature, no label, no inscription — and the maker remains unidentified. Set in a thin silvered wood frame without glass.

CONDITION

Good. Scattered scuffing to the painted surface consistent with age and handling; no losses or cracks noted. The silvered wood frame shows scuffing along the edges. No glazing.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall (framed): 34" H × 25" W × 1 3/8" D
• Visible (sight): 32½" H × 23½" W
• Medium: Oil on Masonite
• Period: 1960s
• Frame: Silvered wood, no glass
• Markings: None — unsigned, no labels or inscriptions