Cathedral
- Artist: Norman Lewis
- Date: 1950
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 1069 × 636 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is “Cathedral” by Norman Lewis, painted in 1950 with oil on canvas. The work springs from a view he had in his Harlem studio, looking out over the dense cityscape of New York. Lewis layers a jagged black grid over a bold red ground, a visual echo of stained‑glass windows that hint at the cathedral‑like rhythm of the city’s streets. The irregular lines and occasional spiral motifs bring a sense of movement that mirrors the constant traffic of the neighborhood.
After World War II Lewis’s style shifted toward abstraction, partly as a reaction to his disillusionment with the United States. In this painting he channels the racism of Nazi Germany into a critique of segregation, using the grid to suggest confinement and division. It sits alongside other works from the same series – “Tenement”, “Metropolis”, “Harlem Courtyard” – where he blends concrete urban references with a more formal, abstract language. The piece was presented to us by the Tate Americas Foundation in 2019, underscoring its enduring relevance to contemporary discussions of art, race, and place.
See it in person
Cathedral is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
