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Arnold FriedmanAmerican Scene Depression Era New York City Post Office1935
1935
About the Item
This is a painting about a man who travels back into the past and engages with a different stage in his life.
Arnold Friedman worked at the New York City Post Office for four decades, and after his retirement, he returned to that bleak world to paint realistic depictions of the regimented life the workers endured each day. In the present work, the disposition of the robot-like figures in an assembly line formation conveys the bleakness of the Depression era. The artist deliberately reduces each mailman to a blue shape while hiding the individual identity. Many have their heads pointing down. His use of unexpected cropping is highlighted in the Supervisor being depicted as a cut-off shape. He is dressed differently and physically separated from the other. Adding to the painting's Modernist sensibility, there is a paring down the pictorial elements to its bare essentials.
Arnold Aaron Friedman (American, 1874-1946), "Final Sweep", Oil on Wood Panel, 1935, signed, dated, and inscribed "New York P.O. STA. Y" lower left, Krell International and Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. labels to verso, giltwood frame. Image: 11.5" H x 26.5" W; frame: 15" H x 30" W. Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 20 June 1985, Lot 229. Hirschl & Adler, New York. From a New York City Collection. Note: Friedman worked for the U.S. Postal Service for over forty years. He was a clerk and Station Y, the branch at 3rd Avenue and East 67th Street. When not performing his clerical duties at the post office, Friedman spent his spare time at his home studio in Queens, painting scenes from his daily routine. This is part of a seven works set depicting his time at Station Y were executed two years after his retirement.
- Creator:Arnold Friedman (1874-1946, American)
- Creation Year:1935
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 27 in (68.58 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Overall good condition. slight yellowing of varnish. Faint scattered craqueleur visible only on close inspection.
- Gallery Location:Miami, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU385316455742
Arnold Friedman
Modernist painter Arnold Friedman, was born in New York City. He did not study art until 1905, with Robert Henri at the Art Students League in New York City. He supported himself by working in the post-office. Eleven paintings by Arnold Friedman were shown in New York City in 2002 at the Berry-Hill Galleries in the exhibition, High Notes of American Modernism: Selections from the Tommy and Gill LiPuma Collection. Friedman's paintings appeared in two exhibitions in New York City in 2003, a one-man show at the Barbara Mathes Gallery, and a survey, American Art: 1750 to the Present, at the Richard York Gallery. A comprehensive 1986 exhibition of approximately one hundred eleven paintings and some watercolors and drawings was held at the Salander-O-Reilly Galleries in New York City. The show, Arnold Friedman (1874-1946): An Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors, gave rise to an extensive catalogue with an essay by critic Hilton Kramer. Arnold Friedman participated, from February 14-16, 1936, in the First Congress of American Artists against War and Fascism, in New York City. An extant publication records the essays of painters Stuart Davis and Peter Blume, photographer Margaret Bourke-White, sculptor Paul Manship and critic Lewis Mumford, among others, as well as the artists who attended, including painters Max Weber, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco, Harry Sternberg, Arnold Blanch and John Groth.
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