My Backyard

In My Backyard, Torvalt Hoyer vibrantly portrayed the urban greenery and parceled lots of his Chicago neighborhood, likely Lakeview. He painted in a deliberately flattened and decorative style, using precise lines and forms alongside stippled brushwork. Hoyer conveyed the perspective of looking out his window onto two low structures in the middle ground and a row of narrow homes with their steeply pitched roofs in the distance.

Born in Copenhagen, Hoyer studied informally for several years at the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He worked as a professional acrobat, visiting museums and painting as he traveled the world, eventually settling in Chicago. By the 1930s his modern landscapes garnered critical attention. My Backyard was first exhibited at the Art Institute in 1940, the year it was made.