
1900-1975
Theme/Style – Modernism, Art Deco, figurative, illustration
Media – Oil, gouache, watercolor, pen and ink, graphite, block prints
Artistic Focus – Mac Harshberger primarily made his mark as an illustrator, in striking black-and-white renderings that speak of his close association with the Art Deco aesthetic movement in 1920s Paris. However, his rare works in oil and gouache stand on their own as handsome and complex revelations of a fully developed painter’s skill and sensibility.
Career Highlights –
- Born Frank MacCoy Harshberger Jr. in Tacoma, Washington in 1900, “Mac” Harshberger was the son of a prominent attorney and was raised in a family that appreciated the arts.
- Mac and his sister Kay were part of Tacoma’s artistic community, and Harshberger went on to study at the University of Washington under Ambrose Patterson.
- In 1921 Harshberger moved to Paris, and studied at the Académie Ranson with Maurice Denis and François Quelvee.
- By the mid-1920s Harshberger had settled in New York, where he taught painting and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for 27 years.
- Harshberger and his life partner, Holland Robinson, formed Robinson-Harshberger Productions, privately publishing a number of small-edition books containing Robinson’s musical compositions, rhymes by Kay Harshberger, and Mac’s illustrations.
Selection of Works by this Artist
Bibliographic references are available upon request.