The special exhibition Noble Industrial closes today, and it will be your last chance to view John A. Noble's Candles of the Kill (oil on canvas, started c, 1953, reworked through 1965), which is considered by many to be his masterpiece. It is held in a private collection and will return to its owners. Candles of the Kill depicts the Tidewater Oil Refinery in operation in Bayonne, NJ in the early 20th century. Note the gas flares, used to burn off excess natural gas associated with the oil production process. You can still see flares like these as part of the modern industrial landscape off the New Jersey Turnpike in Linden and Elizabeth, NJ. Although Noble worked on this composition in the mid-20th century, the presence of the schooner on the Kill Van Kull indicates that it is set likely in the 1920s when he first worked as a sailor as a teenager. It captures the industrial landscape familiar to modern viewers juxtaposed against a vessel from the Age of Sail, bridging the two major themes of Noble’s oeuvre. (fb)

This is the last weekend to see the special exhibition, Noble Industrial. While John A. Noble (1913–1983) is known for having chronicled the last days of the Age of Sail through his art, he was also an advocate for the modern maritime industries that populated New York’s working waterfront in the 20th century. This exhibition of rarely seen lithographs, paintings, and drawings—48 in total—contextualizes Noble and his relationship with industry within the century in which he lived and worked. He produced most of these pieces by way of commissions, which he actively sought from large companies, particularly in the early 1950s. These compositions demonstrate Noble’s dedication to accuracy and passion for preserving maritime history. As a result, his oeuvre depicts as much steel as it does wood, as many diesel vessels as schooners, and as much active building as it does wrecks and decay. (fb)