Hugh Laidman (1914-1987) American, Original Watercolor on Paper. Shows two men cleaning fish at a table in a sun-drenched tropical beach area, while two other men in the background observe. Signed and dated '74 bottom right. Framing label on back. 

Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the consignor. 

Overall Size: 27 x 31 1/2 in. 

Sight Size: 18 x 22 in. 

Hugh Laidman was born in 1914 in New York City, and began making commercial art at the age of fourteen, winning awards and scholarships and later graduating from the Pratt Institute in 1937. He worked as an art director and freelance illustrator as well as becoming a partner in Van Valkenburg Associates and the James J. McMahon Advertising Agency until the outbreak of World War II, when he served as a USMC combat artist, chronicling the battle of Guadalcanal. In the 1960s NASA selected him to document space missions, including the Apollo program, and from 1970 to 1972 he drew the widely syndicated comic strip “Middle Class Animals,” leading to him authoring numerous internationally published instructional art books. His prolific and multi-faceted career as one of the preeminent Western New York artists, authors, and teachers extended to producing work for major publications like The New Yorker and commissions for various corporations, and since his death in 1987 his extensive portfolio of paintings and illustrations continue to be featured in museums and private collections globally. 

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