|
HARRIET M REIN (1927-2007)
"Dooryard Garden"
Original Signed Batik Painting Listed Artist Excellent condition with Hardwood Frame
24 in. x 20 in.
Email if you have any questions... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artist: Harriet Mendenhall Rein (1927-2007):Born in 1927, Harriet Rein became many things in her life, and one of them was becoming a highly respected artist unafraid of the fusion of medium. She became a fine batik artist whose work is known for its intricate detail. Rein was a master of batik, and the Arizona desert was her muse, and thus began a fusion of american Southwest and Southeast Asian arts."I want you to see what I see and maybe even feel how I feel about it," she wrote in the brochure for one of her gallery showings. "Beauty of line, color and form is to be expressed and shared, to be communicated beyond the level of words."
She also shared her husband's interest in restoring antique autos and attending car shows. The couple enjoyed traveling the world, Rein snapping photographs that would inspire future art projects.
For nearly 60 years, she was an active member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization Sisterhood, which promotes educational opportunities for women.
Harriet Mendenhall was born in Peoria, Ill. After she graduated from Indiana's DePauw University with degrees in art and literature, she worked in a Chicago advertising studio as a fashion illustrator. When she married Joe Rein in 1949, the couple moved to the Chicago suburbs and Harriet became a stay-at-home mother while maintaining her freelance illustration business, teaching art in public schools and giving private art lessons.
Rein had never had any formal training in batik when she taught a workshop on the ancient art form, which requires the application of hot wax to light-colored fabric before dipping it into cold-water dye. The characteristic "crackle" appearance of batik occurs when the wax cracks and dye creeps in. A successful batik artist must think through the project before starting. For each color, the waxing and dying process is repeated until the design is complete. Then the wax is removed by ironing the fabric sandwiched between paper towels.
Often batik images have the soft, fuzzy edges of a dream spilled onto fabric. Rein's work had the precision, refinement and distinctive colors rarely seen in the art form.
"She was a master at her craft," said John McNulty, retail manager at the Tucson Museum of Art, who knew Rein for 25 years.
"She got the very subtle nuances of the shadows in her plants or her architecture. They were exquisite pieces of art."
Rein's batiks have been displayed in galleries throughout the United States.
"They are just exquisite because they are so elaborate. I never could understand how she can put all that in with just dipping," said Alla Jablokow of Chicago, who was a friend of Rein's since the 1970s, when they were part of the LaGrange Art League. "The design was so intricate it just bowled me over every time I saw them. A lot of people don't understand how difficult that medium is."
Not only was her friend a great artist, Jablokow said, but she was a dedicated member of the art organizations to which she belonged. That dedication continued when Rein joined the Tucson Handweavers and Spinners Guild in 1998.
"Over the course of those years she was a teacher and a mentor, a cheerleader and a dear and caring friend," said Lura Moore, guild president. "Her greatest joy in creating things is her batik."
Rein did take a detour now and again to express her creativity through different mediums. She developed a successful T-shirt line that involved creating a base pattern on a color shirt by spritzing it with bleach, then painting a design on top of the bleached constellation.
"Many of us in the guild have our Harriet T-shirts," Moore said. "I have four."
The guild has created a prize in Rein's name — the Harriet Rein Excellence in Surface Design Award — that will be presented to an artist next spring at the state conference in Tucson.
"Harriet had such talent and enthusiasm," Moore said. "She really filtered that through to all of us."
------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to special packing necessities for framed art items, shipping times may take a few days longer depending on the item and shipping destination location. Email through for more information.
Please check the photos and email with any questions...thank you.
------------------------------------------------------------------
|