City Signs 1938

Hananiah Harari made this color woodcut, "City Signs," in 1938. The artist invites us into a world of visual wit and sophisticated social commentary, typical of the interwar period in the United States. Harari was part of a vibrant community of artists working in New York. He was part of the American Abstract Artists group, who were interested in taking art into new directions, responding to the rise of advertising and mass media. The artist combines recognizable images, such as the traffic lights, advertising signs, and barber's pole, into an abstract picture. The cultural references are to both high art and popular culture. What does this layering and fragmenting of images tell us? Perhaps it is a critique of the alienating effects of the modern city. Historians can turn to primary sources from the period, such as magazines, advertisements, and social surveys, to better understand how the artwork reflects the social and institutional contexts of its time.