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Oceanside Pier, thirty seconds

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Roland Painting


I bought a rather wonderful midcentury painting at the show that came out of an estate in Phoenix. A large work, it depicts men with a crucible of molten metal in front of a foundry. I believe that it was painted in Pittsburgh.

The painting is signed Roland but I have been through all the Rolands on Artprice and Askart and don't see a real fit or match.

This decal is on the back of the frame, from the Jacobson Picture Frame Co. in Pittsburgh. The company was extant between 1943 and 1989. Thought about contacting them but they are unfortunately now long gone.

I believe this painting is early midcentury based on both the type font and the lack of an area code prefix.

Any help I can get ascertaining the author of the work would be greatly appreciated.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting work. Don’t know if this helps, but the 281-2240 telephone # suggests a post 1965 date (at least of the framing) to me. Earlier than that, urban exchanges (hubs through which an areas calls were routed) used letters (and names) for exchange ID. Before 1965 281-2240 would have been listed as AT 1-2240 and the AT (28) exchange given a name such as ATwater or ATlantic or something similar to make it easier for people to remember. This was standardized across the country in the 50s and known as the two letter, five number format—or "2L-5N.”

blanketboy said...

Roland Ontheriver (1891-1947)