Untitled (city scene)

This representation of an unknown city is unusual in the context of Ernest Blumenschein's career for its lack of detail and its broad scope. Although the work is a sketch and Blumenschein may have been intending to resolve the image in a subsequent painting, it is also possible that this sketch was an experiment for the range finder paintings he produced during World War I to improve accuracy among American gunners. Blumenschein was an important figure in the campaign of the Salmagundi Club in New York City to produce such paintings for the war effort. If so, the sketch would depict a Belgian or French city scene and would have been enlarged to a size of 50 x 70 inches for final use.