The Bell Telephone Building, Cleveland, Ohio (1926–27): Art, History and Details

The Bell Telephone Building, Cleveland, Ohio (1926–27) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Edwin Kaufman (American, 1906–1939).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this dramatic image, Edwin Kaufman captures a moment during the construction of the Bell Telephone Building in Cleveland. Begun in 1925 and completed in 1927, the building was the tallest in Cleveland until it was quickly surpassed by the Terminal Tower in 1928. During those years, the city was one of the country’s largest and its industrial production provided ready resources for large architectural projects. The image may reflect ambivalence on Kaufman’s part toward its subject: lines radiating from the top corners seem capable of representing either majesty or foreboding.

Object facts

• Title: The Bell Telephone Building, Cleveland, Ohio
• Date: 1926–27
• Creator attribution: Edwin Kaufman (American, 1906–1939)
• Culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Platemark: 8.2 x 7.3 cm (3 1/4 x 2 7/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1942.896

A detail from the museum

Kaufman's entry card to the museum’s 1927 May Show reveals that this work was finished before construction on the Bell Telephone Building was complete.

Collection credit

Gift of Robert Hays Gries

Further reading listed by the museum

• Edwin Kaufman Entry Card to 1927 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.