DC Neighborhoods

Synagogue Dome, acrylic on canvas, 26 3/4" x 25 5/8", Private Collection

Dome and Construction, watercolor on paper, 13" x 14"
Phillips Collection, DC

New York Avenue Rooftop, acrylic on canvas, 13 1/2" x 14 3/4", Private Collection

Call Box & Figure, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 42 1/2", 1999, Private Collection

Future Site (Mt. Barry), acrylic on paper, 18 1/2" x 30 1/2", 1990, Private Collection

Chinatown Woman, acrylic on paper, 25" x 34 1/2", 1988, Federal Reserve Board Collection

DC Street Scene from Above, watercolor on paper, 12 1/2" x 12 1/4", on loan, promised to Federal Reserve Board Collection

Rooftops, acrylic on canvas, 41 1/2" x 52", Bates College Museum of Art

Rooftops & Office Buildings, watercolor on paper, 16" x 20", 1993

MLK on TV, Motel Room, acrylic on paper, 30 1/2" x 39", 1984

Motel/Stairs, acrylic on paper, 29" x 38 1/2"

Brightwood Rooftop Rose, watercolor & gouache, 11 1/2" x 11", 2011, Private Collection

Brightwood Fall, Private Collection

Brightwood Rooftops 1, gouache on museum board, 13" x 12 1/2", 2012

Brightwood Rooftop 3, gouache on museum board, 14" x 14", 2012, Private Collection

For almost thirty years, Val Lewton was a keen observer of the neighborhood near the National Collection of Fine Arts (later SAAM) where he worked as an exhibit designer. He photographed and painted, effectively documenting a city's change. Familiar street scenes were disappearing. Sites such as the synagogue dome seen from his office window, the architecturally intriguing urban gas stations just blocks away, the cars and delivery trucks, the demolition equipment at rest... they all formed parts of his painting compositions. These were stories centered on a point in time. Lewton also paid homage to other neighborhoods. He painted Bungalows and Victorians, and rooftops and front porches, focusing on the beauty that a light shaft, or color, might reveal, no matter the ordinariness of the building, and reminding us of homes we might have lived in.