Gifford Beal (1879–1956), Fifth Avenue Bus #2

Gifford Beal (1879–1956)
Fifth Avenue Bus #2, 1947
Oil on wood panel, 9 x 12 inches
Gift of the Reverend Richard L. Hillstrom

Beal was born in New York City, which was the subject of a number of his artworks. In this image of passengers on New York’s Fifth Avenue Bus Number 2, he depicts, in his typical, impressionist style, five riders, of a mix of genders and a variety of ages but all clearly fairly well off. A proud matron, shown in haughty profile near the center wearing what appears to be a fur coat, sits next to a young girl wearing a straw hat and speaking to another woman who is perhaps her governess. A couple, the woman in black and the man in tan and brown, are seated on one of the benches in the bus, completing the picture, which is a view from just behind these two. The Fifth Avenue Coach Company began servicing Fifth Avenue residents in 1885 with horse-drawn carriages, which were replaced by double-decker motorized buses in 1907. These buses became the trademark of the company, which operated privately until the 1950s, when it was taken over by New York’s transit system, and the company was the city’s only motor bus company until 1916. Fifth Avenue, because of the wealth, power, and prestige of its residents, is the only major street in Manhattan that never had a street railway, and buses that ran on it were twice as expensive as other modes of transportation in the City, in recognition of the wealth of its typical clientele. The back of this painting has another less finished image, of diners in a café viewing the menu while a waiter stands ready.

Text from the catalogue for the exhibition The Eight, The Ashcan School, and The American Scene in the Hillstrom Collection, presented in the Hillstrom Museum of Art February 25 through April 21, 2013.