HARVEY SCHMIDT

Fortune Magazine

 “The Seagram Building at Sunset” 

New York Society of Illustrators Award of Merit

As handsome a skyscraper today as when it opened in 1958 at 375 Park Avenue in midtown New York City, the headquarters of the Seagram & Sons distillers company appeared in a portfolio of paintings by Harvey in Fortune Magazine in 1960. The bronze beauty was captured in his distinct bold, dramatic style as something different from the many photos and illustration that were appearing in print everywhere else.  The 38-story masterpiece by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson was the home of the famed Four Seasons Restaurant where Harvey lunched occasionally with friends, but the lease ended in 2016 and the restaurant moved elsewhere. 

America’s Infrastructure

Massive national construction projects proliferated after WWII, throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Fortune Magazine was there in 1962 to document many key operations, and so was Harvey. Told by Fortune to go where he wanted, he traveled to several sites and drew the giant earth-moving machines in action (like those made by Caterpillar.) His talents produced a stunning series of color drawings as the nation’s infrastructure and industries were expanded, modernized and improved.