- Jill Gill, an artist and lifelong New Yorker, painted NYC streetscapes beginning in the 1950s.
- Decades later, her grandson visited the same locations she painted to capture how they’ve changed.
- Gill published her paintings in the award-winning book, “Site Lines: Lost New York, 1954-2022.”
As a lifelong New Yorker, artist Jill Gill, 91, has watched the city’s famous streets transform before her eyes.
Over the years, iconic theaters and landmarks have been demolished, and rows of brownstones have been cleared to make way for towering skyscrapers.
So she began to paint.
Gill’s award-winning book, “Site Lines: Lost New York, 1954-2022,” features the watercolor streetscape paintings she created to preserve nearly 70 years’ worth of New York City’s history.
“Every building and school I went to before the age of 13 has since been torn down,” Gill told Business Insider. “That’s what gave me the feeling that I wanted to save whatever I could save. What actually interests me the most, rather than famous buildings that find their way into these paintings, are uncelebrated, unlandmarked, unremarkable buildings that otherwise would’ve been lost to history.”
Gill sketched her streetscapes in pencil first, then loosely outlined the shapes with watercolor paints. Ink lines followed in a spontaneous process that she likens to scat singing.
“I can’t tell you how I do them. It just happens,” she said. “It’s amazing to me.”
Gill’s 16-year-old grandson, Declan, recently visited 10 of the same locations she painted decades ago to document how they’ve fared in the ever-changing city. Viewed together, the images present a fascinating portrait of streets that are never stagnant.
