Private Collection

Oil on Canvas, 58 x 40 in.

Signed and dated lower left: Carl Gaertner/1936

The Union Club is particularly fortunate to have very rich holdings of works by Cleveland’s native son, painter Carl Gaertner. When this evocative night scene by Gaertner first entered the collection, the Club was uncertain whether the setting depicted here was in Cleveland or elsewhere. During a tour of the collection, a former Cleveland policeman whose beat had been Cleveland’s near west side lit up with recognition when he saw this painting. He told everyone in attendance that this was, without a doubt, a depiction of West 25th Street, where there had been a pool hall and milliner’s shop. The marveloous sense of place and atmosphere Gaertner was able to capture, with the storefront lights illuminating figures loitering outside in the darkness, recalls the best work of American scene masters like Edward Hopper.

Spring Night was shown in the Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen (the “May Show”) at the Cleveland Museum of Art, May 6 through June y, 1936.