| Elsie Driggs | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1898 Hartford, Connecticut |
| Died | 1992 New York City, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Painting |
Elsie Driggs (born in 1898 in Hartford, Connecticut, died July 12, 1992 in New York City) was an American painter mostly known for her contributions to the Precisionism movement of the 1920s, as well as her floral and figurative paintings in watercolor, pastels, and oils later on in her career. Her works are in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the James A. Michener Art Museum (Pennsylvania), and the Columbus Museum of Art (Ohio), among others.
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Driggs studied at the Art Students League of New York and in Italy (where Futurism influenced her) and eventually found herself in New York City where she became successful in the 1920s. In New York, she began to paint "the modern landscape of factories, bridges, and skyscrapers with geometric precision and almost abstract spareness." [1] However, it was in 1926 when she painted her most famous work, Pittsburgh, which is a painting of smokestacks of a Pittsburgh steel factory. The painting has a black tone to it and depicts the murky and polluted atmosphere of Pittsburgh industrial life in what Driggs felt had an ironic beauty and intrigue. One year later, she painted another acclaimed work entitled Queensborough Bridge. In the 1930s, Driggs left her Precisionist works for more "whimsical watercolors and figurative paintings as well as murals for the WPA"[2] Driggs married painter Lee Gatch and eventually found herself in Lambertville, New Jersey, dedicating her efforts to Gatch's career.[1] In the 1960s, Driggs experimented with mixed media constructions and figurative paintings in pastels and oils. Until her death, Driggs was considered the most underrated and long-lived of the Precisionist painters.
"Driggs explores abstraction and figurative art with warmth and wit." - Sally Friedman