Nov 19, 2015 - Sale 2399

Sale 2399 - Lot 165

Price Realized: $ 6,240
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
LESLIE RAGAN (1897-1972) NEW YORK / THE UPPER BAY FROM LOWER MANHATTAN. 1935.
40 1/2x26 3/4 inches, 103x68 cm. Latham Litho Co., Inc., Long Island City.
Condition A-: minor restoration in margins; light stain in upper image.
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.