Artist of the Day, September 5, 2026 : Francis Criss , an American painter (#2624)

Francis Hyman Criss  (1901 - 1973) was a distinguished American painter best recognized for his contributions to the Precisionist movement alongside contemporaries Charles Demuth and Charles Sheeler. His definitive work during the 1930s and 1940s focused on urban infrastructure, transforming skyscrapers, bridges, and elevated subway tracks into streamlined, geometric compositions. By intentional design, these cityscapes lacked human figures and utilized distorted perspectives, creating a compelling, surreal aesthetic.

While a mid-career pivot toward commercial projects—including a notable 1942 cover for Fortune Magazine—temporarily impacted his broader critical standing, his artistic legacy remains firmly secure. Today, his paintings are held in the permanent collections of major cultural institutions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum. Notably, his acclaimed piece Alma Sewing, housed at the High Museum of Art, continues to receive contemporary praise as a masterwork of refined technique and structured American realism.

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Francis Criss 

Mural Study, 1930

Untitled (Under the El), 1931

Astor Place, 1932

Americana, 1933

Jefferson Market Courthouse, 1933

Pattern for Tracks, 1933

Third Avenue El, 1933

City Landscape, 1934

City Store Fronts, 1934

Fascism, 1934

Morning in Florence, 1934

Alma Sewing, 1935

El Station, 1935

Renovations, 1935-40

Sixth Avenue El, 1937

Winter Morning, 1938

Words and Music of Two Hemispheres, 1938

Waterfront, 1940

Cold Room, 1940-42

Nembutal Broadside, 1940-45

For Every Mother's Son, 1942

Day-Shift, 1943 
detail

Day-Shift, 1943 

WWII Help Bring Them Back To You! 1943

New York Waterfront, 1944-45

Still Life with Figure, 1950

Portrait of a Woman, mid 20th Century

Jefferson Market Courthouse Portrait of the Artist, mid 20th Century

Portrait of a Woman, mid 20th Century