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Post Office Parcel Post Window - Depression Era

Creator: Arnold Friedman
Offered by: Robert Funk Fine Art

Description
Arnold Friedman worked as a clerk for decades at the Station Y, the branch at 3rd Avenue and East 67th Street in New York City. This present work was done two years after his retirement. This remarkable document of the bleak nature and structure of daily post office life is captured by one of its own, who was a Postal Clerk/Fine Artist. The strikingly original composition features a black and a white postal worker positioned at the extreme ends of the pictorial space. Breaking with academic tradition, they face outside of the picture. In doing so, the center of the picture is purposely left wide open, creating a pathway that leads your eye into a mid-ground space and then into a deeper, even deeper space. Although packed together, the people are looking away from one another. The packages are a metaphor for the people, crammed together but apart. Friedman captures the dehumanizing and impersonal character of a Manhattan post office where people are no more than packages. Signed, dated, and inscribed "New York P.O. STA. Y" lower left, - Elegantly framed to 15 x 30
Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 20 June 1985, Lot 229. Hirschl & Adler, New York.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Origin:	United States, New York
Period:	1920-1949
Materials:	Oil paing on Wood Panel
Condition:	Good. Overall good condition. Slight yellowing of varnish, scatters very faint craqueleur - otherwise present well.
Creation Date:	1935
Styles / Movements:	Modernism, Post Impressionism, Ashcan
Incollect Reference #:	841076

Dimensions

W.	27 in;	H.	12 in;
W.	68.58 cm;	H.	30.48 cm;

Message from Seller:

Robert Funk Fine Art in Miami offers an eclectic collection shaped by 45 years of experience, blending art with commercial perspectives. For inquiries or art advisory services, contact Robert Funk at decoypoet@yahoo.com or 305.857.0521.