JOHN R. GRABACH (1886-1981) Hoover Dam 24 1/8 x 50...
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW JERSEY
JOHN R. GRABACH (1886-1981)
Hoover Dam
signed 'John R. Grabach.' (lower left) and signed again (on the reverse)
oil on board
24 1/8 x 50 1/4 in. (61.3 x 127.6 cm.)
Painted in 1937.
Footnotes
Provenance
Paul W. Doll, Jr., Lake Toxaway, North Carolina.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, circa 2004.
Exhibited
Architectural League of New York, Annual Exhibition, n.d. (as Labor)
New York, Graham Gallery, John R. Grabach, 1880-1981: Urban America Between the Wars, October 21-December 5, 1981, p. 17, no. 19.
Summit, New Jersey, Summit Art Center, American Realism 1930s/1980s: A Comparative Perspective, March-May 8, 1983.
Morristown, New Jersey, The Morris Museum, John R. Grabach: Century Man, July 5-September 24, 2006, pp. 10, 28-29, 52, no. 21, illustrated, and elsewhere.
Island Heights, New Jersey, John F. Peto Museum, John R. Grabach and Henry M. Gasser: Masters of the Newark School, May 13-August 27, 2017, p. 23, illustrated, and elsewhere.
Literature
E. Watkins, "Art in Jersey: Summit exhibit offers 50 years of realism," The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, April 17, 1983, sec. 4, p. 13.
John R. Grabach (1880-1981), exhibition catalogue, New York, 1984, p. 7. (as Hoover Dam Construction)
D. Bischoff, "Painter, teacher, leader, 'Century Man' Grabach saw a lot of changes, and made a few, too, in his 101 years," The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, July 28, 2006, p. 45.
J. Zeaman, "Enough time to paint in all styles. Grabach was a grab-bag artist," The Record, Hackensack, New Jersey, August 11, 2006, p. G22.
E. Courrier, "Works from Ashcan School in Baum School of Art Exhibit," Lehigh Valley Press News, Allentown, Pennsylvania, November 23, 2017.
This lot is accompanied by four figure studies for Hoover Dam executed in graphite on paper, as illustrated on the opposite page and on Bonhams.com. For additional information, please contact the department.
Constructed between 1931 and 1936, Hoover Dam stands as one of the monumental feats of engineering of the twentieth century and a defining symbol of American industrial progress during the Great Depression. Built across the Colorado River in the Black Canyon, the grandiose concrete dam was conceived to control flooding, provide irrigation and municipal water, and generate hydroelectric power for the surrounding areas. The project was authorized under President Herbert Hoover and officially began in 1931, employing thousands of laborers who worked under arduous and often dangerous conditions to divert the river, excavate the canyon walls, and pour millions of tons of concrete. Completed two years ahead of schedule, the dam illustrated the transformative potential of federally funded public works. Its construction also reflected the economic and social circumstances of the Depression, when major infrastructure projects offered employment and a sense of collective purpose amid widespread hardship.
John R. Grabach's 1937 Hoover Dam triptych documenting its construction reflects the artist's commitment to urban realism and his sustained interest in the dignity and physical demands of working-class life. In the late 1930s, Grabach conceived the composition as a mural, allegedly in the hope of securing a commission for a post office or through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), whose Federal Art Project supported artists and brought art into public spaces during the Depression. Although the mural was never executed, Grabach realized the concept in a triptych painting and a related lithograph known as Construction. The composition transforms physical exertion into a monumental celebration of human labor. The model for one of the figures was reportedly a freight jumper who periodically passed through town and occasionally posed for the artist, underscoring Grabach's practice of drawing inspiration from everyday working people. (John R. Grabach, 1880-1981: Urban America Between the Wars, exhibition catalogue, 1981, p. 17) The painting elevates the laborers from anonymous participants in a vast engineering project to the central protagonists of American industrial achievement, thus highlighting Grabach's interest in capturing images of the working class. Its original conception as a potential public mural also places the work within the broader cultural ambitions of the 1930s, when artists increasingly sought to transform scenes of the American experience into monumental art.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW JERSEY
JOHN R. GRABACH (1886-1981)
Hoover Dam
signed 'John R. Grabach.' (lower left) and signed again (on the reverse)
oil on board
24 1/8 x 50 1/4 in. (61.3 x 127.6 cm.)
Painted in 1937.
Footnotes
Provenance
Paul W. Doll, Jr., Lake Toxaway, North Carolina.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, circa 2004.
Exhibited
Architectural League of New York, Annual Exhibition, n.d. (as Labor)
New York, Graham Gallery, John R. Grabach, 1880-1981: Urban America Between the Wars, October 21-December 5, 1981, p. 17, no. 19.
Summit, New Jersey, Summit Art Center, American Realism 1930s/1980s: A Comparative Perspective, March-May 8, 1983.
Morristown, New Jersey, The Morris Museum, John R. Grabach: Century Man, July 5-September 24, 2006, pp. 10, 28-29, 52, no. 21, illustrated, and elsewhere.
Island Heights, New Jersey, John F. Peto Museum, John R. Grabach and Henry M. Gasser: Masters of the Newark School, May 13-August 27, 2017, p. 23, illustrated, and elsewhere.
Literature
E. Watkins, "Art in Jersey: Summit exhibit offers 50 years of realism," The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, April 17, 1983, sec. 4, p. 13.
John R. Grabach (1880-1981), exhibition catalogue, New York, 1984, p. 7. (as Hoover Dam Construction)
D. Bischoff, "Painter, teacher, leader, 'Century Man' Grabach saw a lot of changes, and made a few, too, in his 101 years," The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, July 28, 2006, p. 45.
J. Zeaman, "Enough time to paint in all styles. Grabach was a grab-bag artist," The Record, Hackensack, New Jersey, August 11, 2006, p. G22.
E. Courrier, "Works from Ashcan School in Baum School of Art Exhibit," Lehigh Valley Press News, Allentown, Pennsylvania, November 23, 2017.
This lot is accompanied by four figure studies for Hoover Dam executed in graphite on paper, as illustrated on the opposite page and on Bonhams.com. For additional information, please contact the department.
Constructed between 1931 and 1936, Hoover Dam stands as one of the monumental feats of engineering of the twentieth century and a defining symbol of American industrial progress during the Great Depression. Built across the Colorado River in the Black Canyon, the grandiose concrete dam was conceived to control flooding, provide irrigation and municipal water, and generate hydroelectric power for the surrounding areas. The project was authorized under President Herbert Hoover and officially began in 1931, employing thousands of laborers who worked under arduous and often dangerous conditions to divert the river, excavate the canyon walls, and pour millions of tons of concrete. Completed two years ahead of schedule, the dam illustrated the transformative potential of federally funded public works. Its construction also reflected the economic and social circumstances of the Depression, when major infrastructure projects offered employment and a sense of collective purpose amid widespread hardship.
John R. Grabach's 1937 Hoover Dam triptych documenting its construction reflects the artist's commitment to urban realism and his sustained interest in the dignity and physical demands of working-class life. In the late 1930s, Grabach conceived the composition as a mural, allegedly in the hope of securing a commission for a post office or through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), whose Federal Art Project supported artists and brought art into public spaces during the Depression. Although the mural was never executed, Grabach realized the concept in a triptych painting and a related lithograph known as Construction. The composition transforms physical exertion into a monumental celebration of human labor. The model for one of the figures was reportedly a freight jumper who periodically passed through town and occasionally posed for the artist, underscoring Grabach's practice of drawing inspiration from everyday working people. (John R. Grabach, 1880-1981: Urban America Between the Wars, exhibition catalogue, 1981, p. 17) The painting elevates the laborers from anonymous participants in a vast engineering project to the central protagonists of American industrial achievement, thus highlighting Grabach's interest in capturing images of the working class. Its original conception as a potential public mural also places the work within the broader cultural ambitions of the 1930s, when artists increasingly sought to transform scenes of the American experience into monumental art.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
