This beautiful oil on linen canvas painting, entitled "Rail Crossing: Middletown, was executed by the esteemed artist Jules Halfant (American, 1909-2001). Informed by the work of the American Ashcan school and rendered in a Nabis color palate, the painting depicts a rail yard (in Middletown, New York- located in the Hudson Valley) replete with rail road tracks, lookout tower, and telephone pole among other urban elements in a highly stylized (and deftly executed) manner verging on abstraction. The sophisticated palate offers hues of limestone, mauve, wine and umber with flashes of marigold and azure that foreshadow the advent of color field painting that would come decades later. This is the work of an Mid Century master- self assured, avant garde and aesthetically exacting. The sophisticated palate and modernist sensibility of this work make it well suited to any style of interior from classic Mid Century Modern to contemporary. The work is signed "Halfant" in the lower right and is in very good vintage condition. It comes presented in a custom gallery frame.

Jules Halfant was born in New York City in 1909, and spent the majority of his career in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. He is notable for his exquisite murals during the 1930s depression for the New York Works Progress Administration (WPA). While in the WPA, he worked alongside such well-known artists as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Milton Avery and Stuart Davis. From 1953 to 1988 Jules Halfant was Art Director of Vanguard Records where he designed albums featuring Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Country Joe and the Fish, Buffy Sainte-Marie and many other musicians. His work is represented in esteemed private and institutional collections worldwide, including the Smithsonian Institute of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.

American, 1941

Dimensions:

Height: 27 in. (68.58 cm) x Width: 41 in. (104.14 cm) x Depth: 1 in. (2.54 cm)

Canvas: Height: 25.75" x Width: 39.75"

Creator: Jules Halfant (1909 - 2001, American)

Creation Year: 1941

Medium: Canvas, Oil

Movement & Style: Modern

Period: 1940-1949

Condition: Good

Reference Number: LU71139449472