Holiday on the Hudson

c. 1912

Holiday on the Hudson, c. 1912. George Luks (American, 1866–1933). Oil on canvas; framed: 96.5 x 111.5 x 6 cm (38 x 43 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.); unframed: 76.2 x 91.7 cm (30 x 36 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1933.2291 A sun-dappled scene of middle-class leisure, Holiday on the Hudson is an atypical work by Luks, who more often turned to gritty tenement subjects for inspiration. Throughout his career, the painter fashioned himself as a brash, profane, and hard-drinking antagonist to New York’s genteel art-world establishment. The museum purchased this work just four months before the artist was beaten to death in the wake of a speakeasy argument.