Property from the Gouterman American Art Collection

Hananiah Harari

Untitled (Williamsburg Housing Project Mural Study)

Lot Closed

October 6, 06:04 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Gouterman American Art Collection

Hananiah Harari

1912 - 2000

Untitled (Williamsburg Housing Project Mural Study)

signed Harari and dated 38 (lower right)

gouache on paper

sheet: 8 ¾ by 20 ¼ inches (22.2 by 51.4 cm)

framed: 12 by 23 ½ inches (30.5 by 59.7 cm)

The sheet is affixed to its support along the right and left edges. The sheet is slightly toned and there are small handling creases along the extreme edges. There is fine surface cracking in the light gray colored pigments. Under UV: There is a small spot of pigment that fluoresces and can be seen with the naked eye within the blue pigment at lower right but it may be original to the artist.

The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.

Snyder Fine Art, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above, by 1995

The present work was a proposed mural design Hananiah Harari submitted in 1938 for the Williamsburg Housing Project. The project was funded by the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Projects beginning in 1936 and while Harari’s work was not ultimately selected for inclusion, commissioned murals by Ilya Bolotowsky, Balcomb Greene, Paul Kelpe, and Albert Swinden were installed at the Brooklyn building. Artist Burgoyne Diller was responsible for recruiting innovative young talent to participate in the project and interpret the architect William Lescaze’s vision, and he selected Harari to participate. Harari chose to portray the tenants of the buildings navigating through scenes of everyday life in the borough. They appear throughout the composition as elegant stick figures navigating the city’s streets. Harari intended to evolve the artistic tastes of the American worker who would live alongside these murals and promoted the tenets of abstraction throughout his design.