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Capturing the History of Grand Rapids: Cityscape Paintings
April 01, 2025
Reynold Henry Weidenaar, View of Downtown Grand Rapids,
watercolor, 1959, 2006.206.1.
Tessa Joy Glashower, Grand Rapids, print of original
watercolor, 2019, 2019.50.7.
Ryan Crawley, Grand Rapids X, acrylic on canvas, 2020, 2020.18.1.
Don Kerr, Grand Valley Suite: Grand Rapids, South, oil on
canvas, 1988, 1998.081.1f.
Jackson Wrede, Sunset on the Grand River, oil on canvas,
2022, 2023.14.2.
When you picture a landscape painting, the first things that may come to mind are sunlit mountains, lush green trees, flowing blue rivers, and vibrant flowers- the familiar marks of nature that have inspired artists for centuries. However, as cities began to develop, artists became interested in documenting the industrial areas around them. Cityscapes are the urban equivalent of landscapes, as seen in paintings, prints, drawings, or photographs that render the physical aspects of a city.
One of the first recorded cityscapes was from the first century C.E. Rome. A fresco at the Baths of Trajan depicts a bird’s eye view of the ancient city. While these aerial views of cities stayed popular for centuries, it was 17th-century Dutch artists who made cityscapes an independent genre, treating the cityscape as accurate portraits of the cities around them. At the end of the 19th century, Impressionists focused even more on the happenings of everyday life in their paintings, with many artists painting suburban and industrial areas as well as building sites and transportation.
Today, artists still strive to paint the world around them as they see it, including the urban areas of our very own Grand Rapids, Michigan. Built on the ancestral land of the Anishinaabe, the history of Grand Rapids began with a fur-trading post built in 1806. Becoming a city in 1850, Grand Rapids boomed with the coming of the railway and major lumbering companies, giving the city the nickname “America’s Furniture City.” Through artists’ renditions of Grand Rapids, the history of the streets we walk daily comes alive.
Reynold Weidenaar’s depiction of downtown Grand Rapids reminds us of a time when Grand Rapids was emerging at the economic boom of West Michigan. Trolley cars were running along the streets of downtown, where the business and retail center provided for not only Grand Rapids but all of West Michigan.
The watercolor by artist Tessa Joy Glashower is a unique depiction of Grand Rapids at night, with the lights from skyscrapers illuminating the cityscape. The first skyscraper in Grand Rapids was the McKay Tower with the first two floors of the building built in 1915. It was built on the site of the cabin where the first town meeting was held. Originally used by the Grand Rapids National Bank, the company added 11 additional floors by 1927. Up to 1983, the McKay Tower was the tallest building in Grand Rapids until the Amway Grand Tower was built.
Showcased in Ryan Crawley’s painting, the Blue Bridge is an icon of the Grand Rapids cityscape. The bridge was originally constructed in 1892 as a railroad bridge. Today, the Blue Bridge stretches across the Grand River as a pedestrian walk. It is one of the longest truss bridges in Michigan.
On one side of the iconic bridge, as painted by Don Kerr , is GVSU’s own L.V. Eberhard Center. Built in 1988, the building is named for L.V. Eberhard, the founder of local supermarket chain Eberhard’s, who donated funds for the construction of the business-oriented academic building.
Jackson Wrede’s photorealistic painting gives us the other side of the Blue Bridge, a view filled with some of Grand Rapids’ tallest buildings like the Plaza Towers, the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, and the JW Marriott Grand Rapids. Wrede also paints in detail the Grand River, an important body of water to the area as it has historically served as a transportation route, a source of food and resources, and a cultural hub for many peoples.
What is your favorite view of Grand Rapids? If you were to paint a cityscape, what details of the city would be most important for you to portray to future viewers?
Check out more Grand Rapids cityscapes, including photographs and other mediums, in the GVSU Art Museum Collection.
Want to see other local cityscapes and landscapes in person? Head over to the second floor of the Gordon Gallery and see the exhibition “Real and Imagined: Interpreting the Michigan Landscape.”