Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"Harold Altman was born in New York in 1924, and he attended several art schools including the Cooper Union Art School in New York, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. His teaching career was spent mostly in the Midwest (including one summer at Indiana University) and in New England. He had over 300 one-man exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Japan. His works occur in over 200 private and corporate collections, and he received numerous awards and fellowships. Throughout his career, Altman spent one third of every year in Paris, where his lithographs and etchings were printed before his death in 2003.
This screen print of Park Benches is typical of Altman’s work. Many of his prints represent park scenes and continue to be sold in America and Europe. In the mid- to late twentieth century, Altman made numerous prints of Central Park in Manhattan and other parks in New York and Pennsylvania. His images generally show a great number of trees surrounding a path or pond, and in this case, we see several benches with seated and walking people. His works rarely contain more than a few figures, and this print is unusual in including seven. His focus is primarily on aspects of landscape, and the serigraph technique allows for excellent rendering of lighting. This is clearly visible at the points where light shines through the leaves and onto the figures and foliage. Shadows are cast in a deep green, and there is little if any pure black. Altman’s use of limited color (mostly greens and browns), combined with a lack of detail in the figures, creates a picture concentrating mainly on the setting. It is difficult to place Altman’s work within a specific stylistic movement. His prints are reminiscent of the pointillist style of French Post-Impressionism. At the same time, there is a romantic element present, because his works express pleasurable emotion effectively.
Grace Hampton & Alison Obermeyer
Harold Altman Park Benches Serigraph (silkscreen print) 23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. Signed and titled by the artist 1970 Acc. No. 1974.14.01 "