Howard McLean

In this depiction of ordinary New Yorkers gathering at a ferry slip on a summer evening, McLean includes dapper men in straw boaters, young women with parasols, and children awaiting the return of a working parent. Waterfront landing slips for ferries carrying passengers between Manhattan and Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New Jersey attracted both commuters and strollers seeking cool breezes.

Such scenes of docks, urban tenements, street fairs, excavations, and saloons appealed to a group of early 20th-century painters dubbed the Ashcan School. They employed bold brushstrokes and brilliant, saturated color to convey the vitality of the city and its dwellers.