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Artists›Ralston Crawford

Ralston Crawford

Ralston Crawford

American, 1906–1978

WA-00026700

St. Catharines, ON, Canada

PrintmakingExpressionismCubismGeometric Abstraction

Representation

None documented

12

Institutional Exhibitions

47

Works in Collection

61

Assets Indexed

6

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ3929822 ULAN500029588

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

American Prints: 1900�1960; Recent Acquisitions: Illustrated Books

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1985–1986

No image

American Drawn and Matched

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1977

No image

American Prints: 1913�1963

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1974–1975

No image

American Prints from the International Program

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

No image

Manhattan Observed

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1968

No image

Contemporary Painters and Sculptors as Printmakers

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1964

No image

American Acquisitions: Recent Additions of Prints to the Museum Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1959

No image

American Prints of the 20th Century

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1954

No image

Summer Exhibition: New Acquisitions; Recent American Prints, 1947�1953; Katherine S. Dreier Bequest; Kuniyoshi and Spencer; Expressionism in Germany; Varieties of Realism

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1953

No image

Abstraction in Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1951

No image

Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1951

No image

We Like Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1940–1941

Field Verification (5 fields)

5 cross-verified · 0 single-source

Birth yearMoMA + Duplicate Merge· 93%✓
BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
LocationMoMA· 93%✓
NationalityMoMA· 93%✓
Death yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1298
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Ralston Crawford was an American modernist painter and printmaker known for geometric abstraction and precisionist landscapes. Working primarily in oil, watercolor, and lithography from the 1930s onward, he developed a distinctive visual language that synthesized cubist structure with the clarity of American industrial and architectural forms. His compositions often featured bold linear frameworks and restrained palettes that emphasized the underlying geometry of urban and natural subjects. Crawford's work bridges the gap between European modernism and American regionalism, establishing him as a significant figure in mid-twentieth-century abstraction.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Expressionism

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Museum of Modern ArtNew York Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago

Canonical record

Artworks (47)

New Orleans Graveyard

1973 · gelatin silver print

Image: 26.4 x 27.4 cm (10 3/8 x 10 13/16 in.); Paper: 35.4 x 27.9 cm (13 15/16 x 11 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

1972 · gelatin silver print

Image: 23.4 x 34.4 cm (9 3/16 x 13 9/16 in.); Paper: 27.6 x 35.4 cm (10 7/8 x 13 15/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Grand Coulee Dam

1971 · gelatin silver print

Image: 30.5 x 26.9 cm (12 x 10 9/16 in.); Paper: 35.5 x 27.7 cm (14 x 10 7/8 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Fishing Boat Rigging

1971 · gelatin silver print

Image: 23.9 x 34.6 cm (9 7/16 x 13 5/8 in.); Paper: 27.9 x 35.4 cm (11 x 13 15/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Stornaway, Scotland, Fishing Boats

1971 · gelatin silver print

Image: 23.7 x 34.7 cm (9 5/16 x 13 11/16 in.); Paper: 27.8 x 35.6 cm (10 15/16 x 14 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

St. Gilles #3

1962 · Lithograph on cream wove paper

Image: 43.8 × 60.2 cm (17 1/4 × 23 3/4 in.); Sheet: 50.5 × 65.5 cm (19 15/16 × 25 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (New Orleans Street Dance)

Untitled (New Orleans Street Dance)

1959 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 25.4 × 20.3 cm (10 × 8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

New Orleans, Number 10

1958 · Oil on canvas

40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nets, Croix de Vie #2

Nets, Croix de Vie #2

1955 · Lithograph on cream wove paper

Image: 58.3 × 45.8 cm (23 × 18 1/16 in.); Sheet: 65.6 × 50.2 cm (25 7/8 × 19 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Collage #7

1955 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 11 x 17 3/16" (27.9 x 43.6cm); sheet: 15 1/16 x 22 3/16" (38.2 x 56.4cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Nets, Croix de vie #2

Nets, Croix de vie #2

1955 · Lithograph

composition: 23 x 18" (58.4 x 45.7cm); sheet: 25 11/16 x 19 11/16" (65.3 x 50cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1954 · Pen and black ink on ivory wove paper

28.3 × 39 cm (11 3/16 × 15 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

1954 · Pen and black ink on ivory wove paper

28.5 × 39.6 cm (11 1/4 × 15 5/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

1954 · Pen and black ink on ivory wove paper

28.9 × 39.9 cm (11 7/16 × 15 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Boarded Up Window)

Untitled (Boarded Up Window)

1954 · Gelatin silver print

Image: 16.2 × 24.2 cm (6 7/16 × 9 9/16 in.); Paper: 17.4 × 25.4 cm (6 7/8 × 10 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Female Impersonator, Dew Drop Inn, New Orleans

Female Impersonator, Dew Drop Inn, New Orleans

1954 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 25.4 × 20.3 cm (10 × 8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

June 18/54 I

1954 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 9 3/4 × 14 3/4" (24.8 × 37.5 cm); sheet: 14 × 20 1/16" (35.6 × 50.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Boxcar

1952 · Color lithograph on cream wove paper

Image: 42.8 × 26 cm (16 7/8 × 10 1/4 in.); Sheet: 50 × 33 cm (19 11/16 × 13 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Boxcar

1952 · Lithograph in black on cream wove paper

Image: 42.8 × 23.3 cm (16 7/8 × 9 3/16 in.); Sheet: 50 × 32.8 cm (19 11/16 × 12 15/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Boxcar, Yellow and Black

Boxcar, Yellow and Black

1952 · Color lithograph on off-white wove paper

Image: 42.6 × 23.3 cm (16 13/16 × 9 3/16 in.); Sheet: 50.2 × 32.8 cm (19 13/16 × 12 15/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Third Avenue Elevated #1

Third Avenue Elevated #1

1952 · Lithograph

composition: 10 3/8 x 17 3/8" (26.4 x 44.1cm); sheet: 12 7/8 x 19 3/4" (32.7 x 50.2cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Cologne Landscape #4

Cologne Landscape #4

1951 · Lithograph on white wove paper

Image: 27.3 × 45 cm (10 3/4 × 17 3/4 in.); Sheet: 32.6 × 50.2 cm (12 7/8 × 19 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Cologne Landscape #6

Cologne Landscape #6

1951 · Lithograph

composition: 14 15/16 x 21 3/16" (38 x 53.8cm); sheet: 19 3/4 x 25 3/4" (50.2 x 65.4cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Funeral, Algiers, Louisiana

Funeral, Algiers, Louisiana

1949 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 16.1 × 24.1 cm (6 3/8 × 9 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 47 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

47 published of 59 catalogued · 49 with image

Art Institute Chicago
25 published25 img
MoMA
12 publishedof 24 catalogued24 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
The Met
3 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 7)

7 entries · 1 sources

Barn Abstraction
1934 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Stornaway, Scotland, Fishing Boats
1971 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Under the El
1949 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Grand Coulee Dam
1971 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Fishing Boat Rigging
1971 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
New Orleans Graveyard
1973 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Spain
1972 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Kewalo Close-Up (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

6

Movements3

Expressionism Cubism Geometric Abstraction

Collections3

Museum of Modern Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago