GUY CARLETON WIGGINS (AMERICAN 1883-1962) "CITY HALL PARK"

Signed 'Guy Wiggins NA' bottom right; also titled and signed verso, oil on canvas
25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2cm)

Provenance: Rehs Gallery Inc., New York, New York.
Acquired directly from the above.
Private Collection, Los Angeles, California.
NOTE:
New York's City Hall has been an important part of the city's civic life for centuries. Located in downtown Manhattan, and depicted here in the lower left of the painting, the building currently functions as a governmental office for city representatives. The building itself was designed by Joseph Mangin and John McComb, and the cornerstone was laid in 1803. The triangular park surrounding the building was used throughout the 19th and 20th century for countless important gatherings and events. Now, it is home to many monuments as well as the famous Jacob Wrey Mould fountain, which was originally constructed in 1871. In 1966, the City Hall building was designated a city and national landmark, and in 1999 the park was fully restored, in what former Mayor Giuliani called "a final gift from the 20th century to New Yorkers of the 21st". City Hall Park and its surrounding streets and buildings are depicted here in quintessential Wiggins' fashion. A snowy winter's afternoon creates a gray sky as trees, grass, and concrete becomes covered in the blizzard's fall.
The present lot will be accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Guy A. Wiggins, the son of the artist, dated September 17, 2018. According to Mr. Wiggins, the painting "was painted in the 1940s, after Guy Carleton Wiggins was made a National Academician in 1936. It is an excellent example of the larger paintings that he did in that period."