Depicting an industrial mill complex in a flat, angular style, Spencer’s Waterfront Mill, like Charles Sheeler’s Water, notably lacks signs of human presence and activity. The mill is pristinely painted with clean edges and smooth brushwork; there is no evidence of age or wear-and-tear. Thus, Spencer’s composition, based on a historical mill in Bristol, Rhode Island, appears as an emblem of timeless efficiency. Interest in such examples of vernacular architecture spiked among artists after the end of World War I and through World War II, partly because their no-nonsense design seemed to exemplify the phrase "form follows function," coined by architect Louis Sullivan.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Waterfront Mill
Artist:Niles Spencer (American, Pawtucket, Rhode Island 1893–1952 Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania)
Date:1940
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:30 × 36 in. (76.2 × 91.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1942
Object Number:42.169
Inscription: Signed (lower right): NILES SPENCER
the artist, New York (1940–42; sold through Downtown Gallery, New York to MMA)
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Paintings by Leading American Artists," October 17–November 16, 1940, no. 11.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art," December 7, 1942–February 22, 1943, unnumbered cat. (p. 11; awarded a Sixth Prize).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory: Prize Winners," March 8–May 10, 1943, no catalogue.
Boston. Institute of Modern Art. "Artists for Victory: Prize Winners," May 22–June 19, 1943, no catalogue.
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Loan Exhibition: A Selection of Outstanding Paintings and Sculptures by Leading Exponents of Progressive American Art and a Group of 19th Century Art," October 15–November 3, 1945, no. 21.
Akron Art Institute. "America Paints Outdoors: The 1946 Summer Exhibition of Paintings Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art," July 2–August 1946, no. 31.
Circulating exhibition. "20 Contemporary American Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 1948–May 1949, including the following venues.
Sioux City, Iowa. Sioux City Art Center. "20 Contemporary American Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 13–end March 1949, no catalogue.
Norman. Oklahoma University Museum of Art. "20 Contemporary American Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 1949, no catalogue.
New York. Downtown Gallery. "In 1940... An Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by Leading Americans," March 14–April 1, 1950, no. 21.
American Federation of Arts circulating exhibition. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," January 1951–November 1952 (lent to numerous U.S. venues, including those listed below), no catalogue (checklist no. 18).
Hagerstown, Md. Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," April 1951.
Nashville. Watkins Institute. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," November 5–25, 1951.
Montgomery, Ala. Montgomery Museum of Art. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," December 1951.
Abilene, Tex. Abilene Museum of Fine Arts. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," April 7–20, 1952.
Shreveport. Louisiana State Exhibit Museum. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," May 11–25, 1952.
South Hadley, Mass. Dwight Art Memorial, Mount Holyoke College. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," November 6–25, 1952.
Akron Art Institute. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," closed February 21, 1954, no catalogue.
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," March 2–28, 1954, no catalogue.
Manchester, N.H. Currier Gallery of Art. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," closed June 2, 1954, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," June 23–August 15, 1954, no catalogue.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Niles Spencer: A Retrospective Exhibition," September 1–October 1, 1954, no catalogue.
Lexington. University of Kentucky Art Gallery. "Niles Spencer," October 10–November 6, 1965, no. 86 (no. 40 in the exhibition checklist).
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. "Niles Spencer," November 16–December 19, 1965, no. 86.
Portland, Me. Portland Museum of Art. "Niles Spencer," January 6–30, 1966, no. 86.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Niles Spencer," February 8–March 6, 1966, no. 86.
Allentown, Penn. Allentown Art Museum. "Niles Spencer," March 15–April 8, 1966, no. 86.
Manchester, N. H. Currier Gallery of Art. "Niles Spencer," April 15–May 8, 1966, no. 86.
Providence. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. "Niles Spencer," May 20–June 12, 1966, no. 86.
Newark Museum. "Niles Spencer: Friends and Influences," June 30–September 4, 1972, no catalogue.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," September 9–November 7, 1982, no. 113.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," December 6, 1982–January 30, 1983, no. 113.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," February 28–April 25, 1983, no. 113.
Des Moines Art Center. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," May 23–July 17, 1983, no. 113.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Images of America: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography," August 15–October 9, 1983, no. 113.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center. "Niles Spencer," April 25–June 20, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 24).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting: 1905–1950," April 19–October 7, 1991, no catalogue.
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. "Precisionism in America, 1915–1941: Reordering Reality," May 7–July 4, 1995, no. 84.
Lincoln, Neb. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. "Precisionism in America, 1915–1941: Reordering Reality," September 5–November 5, 1995, no. 84.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory," October 1, 1996–January 12, 1997, extended to January 22, 1997, no catalogue.
Oxford, England. Ashmolean Museum. "America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper," March 23–July 22, 2018, no. 71.
Jeannette Lowe. "51st Street Becomes Downtown: A Lower Manhattan Institution Moves 38 Blocks North." Art News 39 (October 19, 1940), p. 12.
A. Hyatt Mayor. Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art. A Picture Book of the Prize Winners. New York, 1942, unpaginated, ill.
"Artists for Victory Score Victory in Metropolitan Exhibition." Art Digest 17 (December 15, 1942), p. 6.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Artists for Victory: Afterthoughts on the Huge Nation-Wide Survey at the Metropolitan Museum." New York Times (December 20, 1942), p. X9.
"Record Art Show Has $52,000 Prizes." New York Times (December 8, 1942), p. 30.
Florence S. Berryman. "News and Comment." Magazine of Art 35 (December 1942), p. 300, ill.
Alfred M. Frankfurter. "The Artists for Victory Exhibition: The Paintings." Art News 41 (January 1–14, 1943), p. 12, ill. p. 9.
Roy R. Neuberger. "Artists for Victory." Art in America 31 (January 1943), p. 54.
Downtown Gallery. Paintings by Leading American Artists... New York, [1944], ill. n.p.
Ben Wolf. "Edith Halpert, Art Crusader, Marks Two Decades of Success." Art Digest 20 (October 15, 1945), p. 10.
"Niles Spencer, 58, Painted Industry." New York Times (May 17, 1952), p. 19.
"Paintings of Famed American Artists to Be Shown Monday." Abilene Reporter-News (April 6, 1952), p. 7-B.
"Niles Spencer, American Painter." Currier Gallery of Art Bulletin (May–June 1954), unpaginated, ill.
Susan Loving. "With His Brush, He Made Bristol's Mills and Houses Into Works of Art." Bristol Phoenix (August 27, 1987), pp. 1, 28–29, ill.
John Loughery. "Early Moderns: Benton, Marin, Spencer." Hudson Review 43 (Autumn 1990), p. 465.
Norman Lewis (American, New York 1909–1979 New York)
1978
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
