110649

Harvey Samuel Firestone Sr 1932

Seated three-quarter length to the left, head turned and looking to the right, wearing a three-piece suit with a gold watch-chain, a red carnation in his buttonhole, his right arm resting on a table with books and a glass oil lamp holding a pair of pince-nez in his right hand, his left resting on his left knee

Oil on canvas, 127 x 96.5 cm (50 x 38 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / Miami 1932 IV. I

Juley negatives PPJ-0058541 / 0058553 / 0058594

Sitters’ Book II, f. 72: Harvey S. Firestone March 13 1932 / Miami Beach Fla / U.S.A.

Private Collection

The Firestone family ranked high among de László’s American connections, not only in terms of patronage but also friendship. This is one of seven portraits that de László painted of the Firestone family between October 1931 and March 1932, during his third visit to America. He had painted the sitter’s daughter-in-law, Mrs. Harvey S. Firestone Jr, in Paris in 1928 [110828], and a pendant portrait of that sitter’s husband [110650] was completed in December 1931 in Washington, D.C. Harvey Firestone Jr arranged for de László to travel to Miami, Florida to complete two large portraits of his parents, the present picture and [11334],^[1] as well as those of the sitter’s two grand-daughters, Elizabeth [111586] and Martha [111667] and his aunt Elizabeth Idabelle Firestone [111303]. He also painted Mrs. James Smith Bush [111977], whose mother he had stayed with over Christmas 1931 in New York.

De László met Mr and Mrs Firestone Sr, at lunch at the Ritz Hotel, New York, on 22 October 1931. He described them in his diary: “a small man – with blue eye – a la Voltaire – hard – & very clever – his wife – delicate charming…here again – my plan had to be changed as both parents – which I have to paint – look exhausted – depressed – from the death – burial ceremony – etc – of Edison their close friend – I promised to visit them at Akron – & paint them after I finished N.Y. or Boston.”^[2] 

On 20 December de László and Firestone Jr visited the elder Firestones’ Akron home, Harbel Manor, and the artist selected the places where the portraits of Mr and Mrs Firestone Sr, would eventually hang.^[3] It was decided that the commissions would be completed over Easter at the family home in Miami, where de László could also enjoy a rest after his months of intense work in the U.S.

On 28 February 1932 de László left the Plaza Hotel, New York for the Firestone’s Palm Beach, Florida home, Villa Harbel, an ocean-side property they had acquired in 1924. He did not return to the Plaza until 11 April.^[4] In addition to the Firestone portraits the artist also completed a half-length study portrait of Mrs James Smith Bush [111977].

Harvey Samuel Firestone was born on 20 December 1868 on a farm in Columbiana, Ohio, the second son of Benjamin Firestone (1831-1904) and Catherine Flickinger (1838-1916). He graduated from Columbiana High School, after which he worked for the Columbus Buggy Company, Ohio. In 1890 he started his own company in Chicago, making rubber tyres for carriages and in 1904 he went into partnership with Henry Ford to expand the business into making rubber tyres for automobiles.^[5]

Critical to the success of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was Firestone’s active involvement in international politics to help break the British monopoly of the rubber industry. In 1922 the British passed the Rubber Restriction Act and Firestone led a movement against it, setting up a headquarters in Washington, D.C., disseminating information and attempting to rally other rubber manufacturers. He and his son, Harvey Firestone Jr, travelled the world, searching for sites where the company could grow its own rubber. In 1925 he leased one million acres in Liberia, and established a rubber development company. He named the local town Harbel, the same amalgamation of his name and that of his wife that they applied to their homes in Akron and Miami. He published two volumes on the subject, Rubber: Its History and Development (1922) and co-authored Men and Rubber: The Story of Business (1926).

On 20 November 1895, Firestone married Idabelle Smith (1874-1954), the daughter of George T. Smith of Jackson, Michigan. They had five sons: Harvey, Jr (born 1898), Russell (born 1901), Leonard (born 1907), Raymond (born 1908), Roger (born 1912), and one daughter, Elizabeth Idabelle.

Two of Firestone’s closest friends were his fellow self-made men Henry Ford and Thomas A. Edison. The New York Times dubbed it, “a notable triumvirate of friendship”^[6] and they were often referred to as ‘The Millionaires’ Club’. Also among his friends were the naturalist John Burroughs and botanist Luther Burbank.

The sitter was President of Firestone Tire and Rubber until 1932, when he was succeeded by his son, Harvey S. Firestone, Jr He died of heart failure at Harbel Villa, on 7 February 1938, aged 69. His body lay in state at Harbel Manor in Akron, and he was buried in the village cemetery of his birthplace, Columbiana.^[7] 

PROVENANCE:

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection, 22 October entry, p. 299; 20 December entry, p. 358; 5 January 1932 entry, p. 375

MD 2013