Eliot O'Hara (1890-1969) American, Watercolor. Watercolor depicting  Westminster Bridge in London, United Kingdom. Signed Eliot O'hara and dated 1952 in the lower right. Various information on the back. Titled 'Westminster Bridge' by Eliot O'Hara. The back says it was given to the Longboat Key (Florida) Art Center and is the first toward a permanent gallery. Another label says that this is a watercolor by Eliot O'Hara, N.A. Proceeds from this sale will benefit students at the Ringling College of Art & Design.

Overall Size: 23 1/2 x 29 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 15 1/4 x 21 in. 

#8175 . 

A native of Waltham, Massachusetts, Eliot O'Hara had an early career directed towards joining his father's business, the Waltham Dial Company. However, his artistic talents and love of travel led him to painting worldwide--Russia to India to the Pacific Ocean to the Western Hemisphere including the Southwest. He became such a successful teacher that the publishers of "Encyclopedia Britannica" commissioned him to film twenty-four color movies of watercolor instruction. His most famous school, at Goose Rocks Beach, Maine, was destroyed by fire in 1947.
Winning awards from the American Watercolor Society as early as 1930, he embarked on a career that combined teaching his craft in his studio and on the road. His studio in Goose Rocks Beach, ME burned in 1947; therefore the earlier works are more valuable since fewer exist.
The entire estate is stored at the Harmon-Meek Gallery. We have represented his estate since 1973 and have done 14 solo exhibitions since 1974. ??He is represented in more than sixty museum permanent collections and was the most popularly known watercolorist in America during the 1930's to 1950's.
There are very few regions of the world that O'Hara missed painting. He was the first foreign artist allowed to paint freely inside of the Soviet Union in 1929. The Ogunquit Museum of American Art in ME has 125 watercolors from 1922 to 1968, which were gifted a number of years ago by the estate. The Boca Raton Museum of Art also has all of his works he deemed wrong in some manner and thus have a huge corner torn out to prevent their sale to collectors. These works are good for teaching purposes thus the gift to the museum.