I love, love, love painting this
boy and his sister. (I believe this is the third time?) More on that in my next
post. But for today, thank you to the creative people at Patience Brewster for alerting
me to the fact that August is Artist Appreciation Month. If you aren’t familiar with the
name, Patience is the artist behind her company’s handmade Christmas ornaments.
(Her illustrations are also exquisite.) Patience is passionate about sharing
the stories of other artists, and her blog can be found here.
So what better time to write a little bit about the artist who has had the greatest impact on my own art, Hananiah Harari. Born in Rochester, NY, in 1912, he was already in his eighties when I began taking life-painting classes with him at the Art Students League in NYC. Though he was quite a bit shorter than I (and I am not that tall), he was a towering figure when it came to art. His work ranged from murals for the WPA in the 30s, to political illustration that got him blacklisted in the 50s, to precise realism and trompe l’oeil, to the semi-abstract style in which he painted when I knew him, and which I loved best.
So what better time to write a little bit about the artist who has had the greatest impact on my own art, Hananiah Harari. Born in Rochester, NY, in 1912, he was already in his eighties when I began taking life-painting classes with him at the Art Students League in NYC. Though he was quite a bit shorter than I (and I am not that tall), he was a towering figure when it came to art. His work ranged from murals for the WPA in the 30s, to political illustration that got him blacklisted in the 50s, to precise realism and trompe l’oeil, to the semi-abstract style in which he painted when I knew him, and which I loved best.
His class was always full, he always
wore a suit vest and bow tie, and as he made his rounds of the studio he always
had something useful to say. How liberating it was to have a teacher who encouraged
us to loosen up, to experiment, to go ahead and make the eyes two different
colors. A three-hour portrait demonstration that he painted remains the single
most instructive class I have ever had, possibly in any subject. My style is
not yet as loose as Harari’s (hopefully some day), but I owe to him my ability
to see all of the colors hiding in a face. I count myself extremely lucky to
have had the chance to learn from him.
Hananiah Harari’s work hangs
in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National
Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the
Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among
others. And lucky me—one small piece hangs in my home!
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