Backyard Scene
William Meyerowitz was born in present-day Ukraine and immigrated to New York City as a young child. After being introduced to drawing through working as an architectural draftsman, he took art classes at the National Academy of Design and became involved in the New York art scene. Meyerowitz worked primarily in painting and etching, depicting scenes of immigrant life in Manhattan, New England landscapes, maritime subjects, still lifes, and portraiture. During the 1920s through 1940s, Meyerowtiz exhibited work regularly throughout the country, including in annual exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In New York he worked closely with and befriended many other notable artists including Marcel Duchamp, with whom he enjoyed playing chess, and Theresa Bernstein, another modernist painter who Meyerowitz went on to marry.
Meyerowitz’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Phillips Collection, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, among others.
Meyerowitz’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Phillips Collection, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, among others.
