Sara Richman Harris (1921-2016), was a largely-hidden midcentury artist whose work spans nearly 50 years–depicting and describing life in Cleveland, New Hampshire, Boston, New York City, and Albany, New York.
The collection is unusual in that it includes not only Sara’s artwork but thousands of diary pages, as well as photos, films and family records. The materials provide a fascinating view of life as seen through the eyes of a brilliant woman who studied economics at the University of Chicago and art at Girls Latin School and Mass School of Art in Boston, the Art Students League in New York City, and the State University of New York at Albany.
The trajectory of oil, watercolor and encaustic paintings and drawings shown here dates to 1935, when Sara was 14 years old. It proceeds through her experiences living through the Great Depression, World War II, the traditionality of women’s roles in the 1950s, the political and cultural upheavals of the 1960s, and the rising conservatism of the 1970s. The work, presented both chronologically and by category, includes still lifes, abstracts, landscapes, buildings, and people. Sara’s vision draws on yet enhances and personalizes the styles of artists of her day and those who came before.
In Sara’s own words, “It is art that endures.”