1975 "The Boston Tea Party" Joseph Hirsch Print from the Kent Spirit of Independence Portfolio

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Up for sale is this print by Joseph Hirsch from the Kent "Spirit of Independence" Bicentennial portfolio, published in 1975 … Read more Up for sale is this print by Joseph Hirsch from the Kent "Spirit of Independence" Bicentennial portfolio, published in 1975 by Lorillard. It is an iconic image of American rebellion against the British, reminiscent somehow of John Steuart Curry's depiction of John Brown.... With an image size of 8 1/2" x 12 7/8", it is matted in a 16" x 20" mat for ease of framing in a standard frame and is in excellent condition, as pictured.

About the artist:

Joseph Hirsch (1901-1981) was a painter, muralist, illustrator, and printmaker who was born and educated in Philadelphia. He attended the School of Industrial Art between 1928 and 1931, and in 1932, went to New York to study with George Luks. He completed several murals in Philadelphia including "Football," "Integration," "Beginnings of Early Unionism," and "Adoption." As a pictorial war correspondent during World War II, Hirsch made about seventy-five paintings and drawings between 1943 and 1944 in the South Pacific, Africa, and Italy. Hirsch once said that he wanted his work to reveal his beliefs but never turned to propaganda, as so many artists of his time. He did, however portray people as heroes in a deeply humanistic, positive manner, using an almost caricature-like exaggeration. In his mature period, the 1960's and 1970's (the time period of the paintings he did for the Bureau of Reclamation), Hirsch used a series of layered planes to compose the painting. These images appear to be snapshots, capturing people in mid-action, not posing. While Hirsch's paintings are social commentary, he was careful that the viewer had to figure out the message. There are a multitude of readings, depending on the viewer. See less