Harry Leith-Ross

"Concrete Construction"

Circa 1940

Illustrated in "Joseph Barrett, The Prime Years 1970s - 1990s", pg. 14 #016 Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Joseph Barrett (1936 – ) Joseph Barrett was born in Midland, North Carolina, in 1936 and studied at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Barrett, now of Lahaska, Pennsylvania, has been painting his entire adult life. His favorite subjects include the landscape surrounding New Hope and many local landmarks often encompassing figures into his compositions. Barrett utilizes a heavy impasto and his palette bears similarities to that of Fern Coppedge and George Sotter. Barrett’s paintings are always found in unique and somewhat charming handmade frames designed by the artist and finished in metal leaf. A living contemporary of the no longer living “New Hope School” impressionist painters, Joseph Barrett resides outside of New Hope above his old-fashioned antique shop and studio. Entering Barrett’s shop is like taking a step back in time. Inside this cluttered and dusty haven of treasures from the past, is a studio spanning only four by eight feet. This little studio, containing cans of old brushes and hundreds of used paint tubes...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower center. Complemented by hand carved frame. John R. Grabach (1886 - 1981) John Grabach was a high...

Blueprints into Reality - Full-page ad for United Engineers that ran in Fortune Magazine, March 1958, and other business magazines. As Fred Taraba stated, this image is symbolic of optimism and potential. Work includes the original issue of Fortune Magazine with the ad in which United Engineers mentions Stanley Meltzoff. "Here Stanley Meltzoff dramatizes with tools and massive concrete forms...

This painting is part of our exhibition American Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Subway Construction, c. 1928, oil on board, 19 x 15 ¾ inches, signed upper left, artist and title verso; exhibited: 1) 12th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, The Waldorf Astoria, New York NY, from March 9 to April 1, 1928, no. 864 (original price $250) (see Death Prevailing Theme of Artists in Weird Exhibits, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), March 8, 1928); 2) Boston Tercentenary Exhibition Fine Arts and Crafts Exhibition, Horticultural Hall, Boston MA, July, 1930, no. 108 (honorable mention - noted verso); 3) 38th Annual Exhibition of American Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, June, 1931 (see Alexander, Mary, The Week in Art Circles, The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 7, 1931); and 4) National Art Week Exhibition [Group Show], Montross Gallery, New York, New York, December, 1940 (see Devree, Howard, Brief Comment on Some Recently Opened Exhibitions in the Galleries, The New York Times, December 1, 1940) About the Painting Ernest Stock’s Subway Construction depicts the excavation of New York’s 8th Avenue line, which was the first completed section of the city-operated Independent Subway System (IND). The groundbreaking ceremony was in 1925, but the line did not open until 1932, placing Stock’s painting in the middle of the construction effort. The 8th Avenue line was primarily constructed using the “cut and cover” method in which the streets above the line were dug up, infrastructure was built from the surface level down, the resulting holes were filled, and the streets reconstructed. While many artists of the 1920s were fascinated with the upward thrust of New York’s exploding skyline as architects and developers sought to erect ever higher buildings, Stock turned his attention to the engineering marvels which were taking place below ground. In Subway Construction, Stock depicts workers removing the earth beneath the street and building scaffolding and other support structures to allow concrete to be poured. Light and shadow fall across the x-shaped grid pattern formed by the wooden beams and planks. It is no surprise that critics reviewing the painting commented on Stock’s use of an “interesting pattern” to form a painting that is “clever and well designed.” About the Artist Ernest Richard Stock was an award-winning painter, print maker, muralist, and commercial artist. He was born in Bristol, England and was educated at the prestigious Bristol Grammar School. During World War I, Stock joined the British Royal Air Flying Corps in Canada and served in France as a pilot where he was wounded. After the war, he immigrated to the United States and joined the firm of Mack, Jenny, and Tyler, where he further honed his architectural and decorative painting skills. During the 1920s, Stock often traveled back and forth between the US and Europe. He was twice married, including to the American author, Katherine Anne Porter. Starting in the mid-1920s, Stock began to exhibit his artwork professionally, including at London’s Beaux Arts Gallery, the Society of Independent Artists, the Salons of America, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Whitney Studio and various locations in the Northeast. Critics often praised the strong design sensibility in Stock’s paintings. Stock was a commercial illustrator for a handful of published books and during World War II, he worked in the Stratford Connecticut...