Times-Star Building

Charles Townsend was born in Indianapolis in 1911. Upon the death of his mother at an early age, he was raised primarily by his maternal grandparents. Townsend received his first drawing lesson, circa 1921, by Indiana artist Willian Forsyth. After graduating high school, he attended John Herron Art School (on scholarship). Eventually, he was employed by Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati as a technical illustrator and designer. As a fine-art painter he became known for city- and landscapes around Cincinnati.

Times-Star Building is an impressionistic rendering of the Cincinnati landmark completed in 1933 and still stands as a wonderful example of Art Deco design. Snowstorms are an excellent subject for impressionism, since by definition blizzards reduce visibility making distinct objects appear as mere “suggestions.” Here, instead of using natural light from the sun as Monet did in Impression Sunrise, in his cityscape Townsend illuminates the painting with the man-made lighting produced by streetlamps and the lights from inside the buildings representing the change from rural to urban linving.