Harold Joseph Wagner Sold at Auction Prices

Harold Joseph Wagner (1902-1976 San Francisco, CA)

Figure walking harborside with docked boats on a Northern California coast, signed lower right: Har. Wagner, oil on canvas, 20'' H x 24'' W, est: $2000/3000. Note: A Draftsman, architect and fine artist, Oregon native Harold Wagner moved to San Francisco in the early 1920s and worked in his first job as a draftsman for Arthur and Lucia Mathews' ''Furniture Shop'' in the city. Wagner went on to work as an architect in the San Francisco firm of William Baker Faville but was also producing his own paintings during this period. He received major recognition for his personal work in 1933 when Grafton Gallery included him in a series of exhibitions comprising works by distinguished California artists dubbed the ''Group of Eight''. In addition to Wagner, the group comprised Arthur Hill Gilbert, Armin Hansen, Frank Tenney Johnson, Gustav Liljestrom, Edgar Payne, William Ritschel and William Wendt. Wagner continued to exhibit in the 1930s including at the San Francisco Museum of Art's Inaugural show and the California State Fair, both in 1935, and at the Santa Cruz Art League three years later. His works are included in the San Francisco Museum of Art and Oakland Museum collections. In this Northern California bright but cloud-filled scene, a figure walks near harbor rocks. Moored sailboats bob on the water, their sails down. Wagner's lively brushwork is layered with heavy impasto and the artist utlizes the raw canvas in intentional and isolated areas in order to enhance the three-dimensionality of the foreground rocks.