?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
LESLIE RAGAN (1897-1972) NEW YORK / THE UPPER BAY FROM LOWER MANHATTAN. Tempera on board maquette. Circa 1935. 40x26 1/4 inches, 101 1/2x66 3/4 cm. Condition B+: minor staining in image; paint chipping at edges; minor craquelure in image. Framed. An intriguing and dramatic bird's-eye view of Battery Park, seen from atop 60 Wall Street, with New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and New Jersey visible in the background. "His work exemplified the American taste for realistic depiction while highlighting the natural environment for dramatic effect . . . Ragan's sense of composition and refined wash technique made his best images burst with reflected light" (Zega p. 95). "Ragan's cityscapes were particularly noteworthy for their dramatic perspective and powerful massing of Deco-styled skyscrapers. Appropriately, his New York City images best communicated the sense of dynamic rhythm and energy emblematic of the skyscraper age" (ibid, p. 95ff). Zega p. 101, Metzl p. 157.
