Lane, Harry S[chaeffer] (1891-1973)

Born in Brooklyn, NY Lane spent much of his young life in Europe studying art—Bonn, Munich, Vienna, Paris—before returning home in 1928. His wife, the former Erna Schurtz, was a dancer in the Isadora Duncan school. Lane exhibited in the Ferargil Galleries (1931)—where his portraits were praised for solving the problem of definite physical presentment and of intangible traits of character and personality most successfully” (New York Evening Post 26 Dec. 1931: 3)—the 1939 World’s Fair, and the Bonestall Galleries (1940). He painted three murals for the Port Washington, NY post office in 1937 (“Lighthouse,” “Sailing,” and “Landscape”); another entitled “Air Express” ended up in Oakdale, LA. In 1949 Lane moved to the Berkshires permanently, continuing to exhibit and share his knowledge with artists in the community. 1 work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1 work at Worcester Art Museum. 1 work at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 3 more images at FAP.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Harry Schaeffer:

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Old Stone House
Old Stone House

A clearing in forested land, receding toward the painting’s center, draws our attention to a stone house. But it seems to have at least one and possibly two additions to its original structure; along with the farm outbuildings, road and bridge, and the cleared land itself, a passage of time is encoded into the landscape. In muted tones under a clear sky, massy and subtly rounded shapes lend a sculptural quality to the painting.

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