Harry B. Lachman (American, 1886-1974)

"On the Village Road", oil on canvas, 32 x 26 in., signed / Born: La Salle, Illinois, 1886 Died: Beverly Hills, California, 1975 Harry B. Lachman was a well-known painter of post-impressionist landscapes and city scenes, whose work was often compared to that of Paul Cézanne In 1911, the aspiring artist immigrated to Paris, where he established a substantial reputation as a post-impressionist painter—“Mr. Lachman is an American landscape painter better known in France than in his native land.” He specialized in European landscapes and city scenes executed in a flat, angular, yet painterly style. Several of his works were acquired by the French government and are in the collections of the Musée du Luxembourg and the Musée du Petit Palais in Paris In 1915, Lachman moved back to the United States and continued to exhibit and win prizes at prestigious venues nationwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts. Later, Lachman himself became a successful film director in France and England before returning to the United States. In 1933 he settled in Hollywood, where he was signed to Fox Studios and directed numerous films.