Harry Lane (1891 – 1973)

Untitled (Houses and Railroad Tracks), c. 1940s, oil on canvas board, signed lower right, 16 x 20 inches, presented in a newer frame

$4,000

Harry Lane primarily worked in New York and the Berkshires. He is best known for his sleek, realistic still life paintings and urban and rural landscapes such as Untitled (House and Railroad Tracks). A native of New York City, Lane studied both in the United States and in Europe.  While living in New York City, he frequently had solo shows including at the Ferargil, Kleeman, and Kennedy Galleries.  He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, the New York World’s Fair and the Society of Independent Artists. He worked for the Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts during the Great Depression, completing a 1937 mural for the Port Washington, New York Post Office and a 1939 mural entitled Air Express for the Oakdale, Louisiana post office. In 1949, he moved permanently to the Berkshires, acting for several years as Director of the Berkshire Art Center.  He was a charter member and a former director of the Berkshire Art Association and was for several years a member of the Lenox Library Art Committee. Lane’s works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Hearn Fund Purchase), the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Worcester Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, MA, and the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA. Lane's many awards include the Berkshire Art Association annual First Prize Award (1959), Silvermine Artist Guild's award for best oil (1960), Pittsfield Art League First Award for Oil (1951), a Conway Festival First Prize (1962), Albany Art Institute Regional Award (1963), Hillsdale, N.Y. Annual (1965) and First Prize Berkshire Art Association Spring Show (1968). He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and other standard references.