Helen Cranman (1925-2022) American, Pastel Cityscape. Titled: "Wash Day". Signed bottom right. Artist's business card and an informative letter is attached to the back including the title and a signature from the artist. 

Bright reds contrast with stark darker tones displaying an empty alley where laundry is hanging from a line. 

Condition: It has moved from under the mat in upper left corner. 

Overall Size: 34 x 28 in. 

Sight Size: 23 x 16 1/4 in. 

Frame Thickness: 1 3/4 in. 

Helen Schmalheiser “Small” Cranman was born on May 17th, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, where she spent much of her life. After graduating from Savannah High School she moved to Hollywood, California to work with her father Joseph and her uncle at Edward Small Productions. She met many movie and TV stars of the time, as well as her future husband, Army Bombardier Captain Herman Cranman. They were married on June 17th, 1945, just a month and a half after he was liberated from a concentration camp in Germany, and he pursued his underwriter certification while she began to explore acting, art, and poetry. In 1960 she was given her first one-woman show at Sloans in Beverly Hills, where all her work was sold. She began to explore lithography as well as woodcut printing, and in 1965 the couple moved back to Savannah, where she was heavily involved with local arts and culture. Her pieces were frequently exhibited by the Savannah Art Association and the Savannah Little Theater, and she was a founding member of The Landings Art Association. In addition to all her artistic and charitable activities she worked alongside her husband recruiting new agents to Cranman Insurance Agency until his retirement in the late 1990s. After his passing in 2017 she fell into a prolonged illness and died on July 30th, 2022. Today many of her works are in private and corporate collections throughout the Southeast, with a permanent exhibition of her pieces in the Savannah City Hall as well as in the Congregation Mickve Israel Synagogue.

It has moved from under the mat in upper left corner.