Lisette Model ‘Reflections’

On a recent trawl through Chelsea, New York’s art gallery packed westside neighborhood, came the discovery of Bruce Silverstein Gallery’s “Reflections: The Expressionist Origins of Lisette Model,” an inspiring visual retrospective featuring an edited collection of the late artist’s work.

Model’s use of reflective layers to combine cityscapes and civilians candidly shuffling about through New York City during the 40′s offers a romantic, nostalgia inducing and even slightly haunting look at the city that also sheds light on the work of some of her most renowned students, Diane Arbus and Peter Hujar.

Paired with works on paper by artists including Max Beckmann and Lyonel Feininger, and accompanied by a recording of Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire,” the gallery’s back room is dedicated to postwar cabaret elements featuring Model herself breaking a note. And though that made for an enriched experience, it was the journalistic nature of Model’s work combined with her improvisational techniques that made it such a special encounter. -Naveed Hussain 

Now through Nov. 12 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery  535 West 24th Street, Chelsea

Works from Model above & below.