Virtual Catalogue Raisonné

New York City Power Plant and Tugboats (Edison Building), c. 1912

GW00218

New York City Power Plant and Tugboats (Edison Building)

Date of Work: Circa 1912

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 12x16

Provenance: Thomas E. Murray, Brooklyn, NY Thence by descent in the family: Sold Doyle New York Lot: 179 11/05/2013 Note: Thomas E. Murray (October 21, 1860 - July 21, 1929) was a prolific American inventor and businessman who developed electric power plants for New York City as well as many electrical devices which influenced life around the world, including the dimmer switch and screw-in fuse. It has been said that he "invented everything from the power plant up to the light bulb." He was responsible for the construction of nine power plants in New York City, including Waterside #1 and #2 on the East River, which were built by the New York Edison Company. Constructed at 38th Street in 1901 and 1906 respectively, the buildings no longer stand. Murray designed them in a Renaissance Revival style consisting of an ornamented stone base with large arches, red brick and a metal mansard roof.

Notes: "New York City Power Plant and Tugboats (Edison Building)", was painted by Guy Carleton Wiggins, circa 1912. This painting is signed lower left Guy C. Wiggins. Note: There are no inscriptions identifying which of Murray's power plants is depicted here, but the confluence of the two buildings suggests that the subject may possibly be the Waterside plants. According to family tradition, Murray was acquainted with Guy Wiggins and commissioned the present work from the artist. Unique in the artist's oeuvre, it bears the distinctive signature of his early career; by 1920 he dropped his middle initial.