Study: "Waterfall, Chelsea Hotel, NY"

1978

Ching Ho Cheng

(American, 1946–1989)

Culture

America

Medium

gouache

Measurements

Image: 68 x 53.5 cm (26 3/4 x 21 1/16 in.); Paper: 73.6 x 58.5 cm (29 x 23 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Ching Ho Cheng Estate 2011.15

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Drawings such as this one have been described by Ching Ho Cheng’s sister, Sybao, as being “about contemplation and about self-transformation.”

Description

Born to a Chinese diplomat family in Cuba, Ching Ho Cheng spent much of his career in New York City, where he was involved in the city’s artistic scene from the 1960s through the ‘80s. The style of his artworks varied widely through the decades, but he consistently preferred to work on paper, resulting in drawings such as this one. It belongs to a series that Ching created in opaque gouache presenting subtle, everyday subjects in exacting detail. Here, the artist represented the cracked paint and droplets of moisture in the shower of his then lover Gregory Millard at the famed Chelsea hotel, known at the time for its vibrant avant-garde social scene. The viewer is situated as if entering the shower, a vantage point that contributes to its poignant sense of stasis and quietude.