Harold Weston, born Merion, PA 1894-died New York City 1972 Search this
Medium:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
42 1/8 x 36 1/8 in. (107.0 x 91.8 cm.)
Type:
Painting
Date:
1949
Exhibition Label:
Harold Weston led a multifaceted career dedicated to art and humanitarian causes. In 1942 he moved from the Adirondack Mountains to Washington, DC, and founded Food for Freedom, an organization committed to battling famine abroad during World War II. Seven years later, he relocated to New York City and began a six-painting series recording the construction of the United Nations headquarters complex, an international design collaboration between architects Oscar Niemeyer, Le Corbusier, and Wallace Harrison. By flooding the construction scene here with a warm, golden light, Weston expresses his enthusiasm for the UN's mission and his conviction that it would create a world with fewer social injustices. The artist was later active in lobbying efforts that led to the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965.
Luce Center Label:
Harold Weston spent the postwar years in New York and was active in numerous relief projects. He believed that the United Nations “was the greatest hope for a better world” and created a series of six paintings to show the construction of its headquarters from 1949 to 1952. To be able to see the internal structure of the building evokes the hopes of those who created the organization, intended as an open and transparent forum where people from all over the world could come and resolve their differences.
Luce Object Quote:
“Painting is like going to bed with an idea, an experience or impression which means something to you.” “Weston on Weston,” Magazine of Art, January 1939, reprinted in Wolf, Harold Weston, 1978
