"HIS WORK IS AN INQUIRY INTO WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN ARTIST"
Harry Hasheian, with his wife Marilyn, speaks of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
"I am motivated to make drawings by the company I keep and because I have no choice but to d0 it. Sometimes they represent my thought processes like talking to myself out loud, making plans, proposing possibilities. Henri Matisse said his work was successful if it provided a mental armchair at the end of the day. With me, think electrified barcalounger instead.”
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"Harry Hasheian: playful, yet disturbing"
It's a great time for an artist to be alive. I was fortunate enough to have studied with some of the greats of the 20th Century, such as Mercedes Matter, Morria Berd, Alex Katz, Jacob Landau, Louis Kahn, Angelo Savelli, Aldo Giurgola, Henry Varnum Poor, Albert Gold, Leonard Baskin. Their influence on whom I eventually became as an artist is boundless.
German Expressionists had an influence on me. Their raw, divine clumsiness and their directness enabled me to be boisterous and willing to be rough, bold and ready.
Kandinsky and Gorky opened the window to the visually sophisticated doodle, and by taking similar chances, I feel validated by them to proceed upon those principles of Abstract Surrealism.
A colleague once called me "an artist's artist" and one reviewer called my work "playful, yet disturbing," which seems an apt description.
Harry Hasheian
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Short Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Hasheian was the recipient of Full-tuition scholarships to both Philadelphia College of Art (Now the University of the Arts), receiving his B.A. in 1960 in Art Education; and to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his MFA. in History and Practice of Art in 1961. He was the recipient of the Thorton Oakley Medal for Creative Achievement, the Bocour Award for Excellence in Painting, and was chosen to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine.
Mr Hasheian joined the faculty at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science in 1961, and was assistant professor at Edinboro University from 1965 to 84. He has taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Cabrini College, Mercyhurst College, in higher education; and at Salem High School; and the Green Tree School at the elementary and secondary levels. He served for three years as Director of Visual Communication at the Art Institute of Philadelphia from 1987-90. He also taught at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia.
Mr Hasheian's unwavering dedication to education is well-documented. He has participated in seminars; moderated panels on education and the arts; has been interviewed for radio and television; and has served as researcher and project consultant for national and international consultants in the arts.
Mr. Hasheian's work has been shown in numerous exhibitions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with four pieces in their permanent collection; the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco; and the Butler Museum of Art. His work is held in Private collections and museums.
A Collector's Comments
I find Harry's imagery excitingly refreshing. The man and his works are outside categorization. Artists, for whom making art is a business, often get fixated on the one idea that sells and end up making variations of that salable idea. Their works become as predictable as shirt displays at Value City: the same designs in a multitude of color variations. The predictable element of Harry's work is that it is unpredictable, full of surprises, inimitable humor, and provocative imagery. His work is not a business, his work is an inquiry into what it means to be an artist.
There are those who have realized the genius of the man and his works and own works by Harry. Among these astute collectors are the following: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Erie Art Museum, University of the Arts, and scores of private collectors.
J. Wilson Snow
The Photographers
The images on this site were photographed by these three lensmen:
J. W. Snow
John Bensink
Film Archives were digitized by J. W. Snow
