Bertram Hartman

“Legion Week, 1937”

1937

Original watercolor on archival paper titled “Bag’s Groove” by the African American artist Vincent D. Smith. Signed by the artist lower right and dated 1967. Artist title and measur...

Original watercolor on archival paper of a gesturing old man by the well known American artist Benjamin Stahl. Condition is very good. Two spots of foxing or staining to the left of the figure. Very slight wrinkling of paper. Otherwise, no other issues. Circa 1970. Gallery wide linen matted and framed with a thin silver leaf frame. Overall framed measurements are 19.5 by 20 inches. Provenance: A Nokomis, Florida collector. Ben Stahl Biography Born in Chicago in 1910, Ben Stahl was introduced to the world of art by his grandmother. She took him on visits to the Chicago Art Institute and other galleries beginning when he was six years old and continuing until he was fifteen. After these adventures she would buy him oilcloth, brushes, and paints, and he would create “masterpieces” on the front porch of the family home. Stahl also read voraciously, which did not translate into academic excellence. However, when he was in seventh grade, he received a scholarship to attend Saturday morning lectures at the Chicago Art Institute. He would spend his Saturday afternoons drawing live animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo and the stuffed variety at the Field Museum, honing his knowledge of animal anatomy. After high school, Stahl got a job as an apprentice at a commercial art studio. One of the partners, realizing Stahl was ambitious and talented, encouraged him to draw and paint to create a portfolio. It was the contents of this portfolio that landed him a job at Chicago’s most prestigious art studio. During his time there and at other studios, plus a stint as a journalist for the Chicago Daily News, Stahl continued to develop a unique style, influenced by the Impressionists, which he felt would carry the mood and the emotional impact of commercial illustrations. Ironically, Stahl’s first assignment for The Saturday Evening Post was to illustrate a sea story – this for an artist who had never seen either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans! The editors liked his work, and there followed four years of marine-themed assignments. Eventually Stahl asked for a change, so his next assignment was set in the desert – which he had also never seen. He was being noticed, however, and eventually he decided to move to New York and become a freelance illustrator. He illustrated over 750 stories for the Post along with a number of other magazines, and he continued to explore new approaches in his easel painting. In 1951, Stahl was commissioned to paint "The 14 Stations of the Cross...