Babb's success came from his extraordinarily realistic depictions of Boston, for which he is best known today, such as the painting Boston with Old City Hall from the Harvard Club.

More information about this painting...

Recalling how he came to paint this view, Joel wrote: “I’d heard from Marcia [Vose] that the downtown Harvard Club had dramatic views—although those views have been recently changed by the rise of new buildings nearby. I was able to take many photographs over a few hours which were the beginning of the new paintings…I particularly love the effects of atmospheric perspective in cityscapes in which the urban geometry dissolves into indistinctness, and the sense of structure and place are lost in vastness. But the [painting shows] the new Boston has an up and down dimension as well as an East West North South. Glass facades conceal the cubicles and niches of residents and businesses which have nested within far above the streets.”

Provenance:

Collection of the artist

Inscription:

(top stretcher) Joel Babb / Boston with Old / City Hall (from the Harvard Club) 2018 / (#3)