110650

Harvey Samuel Firestone Jr 1931

Half-length slightly to the right and looking full-face to the viewer, wearing a dark blue-brown jacket and waistcoat, a white shirt, and a blue and red striped tie, a buttonhole or handkerchief in his left breast pocket, his left hand  holding a document

Oil on canvas, [dimensions unknown]

Inscribed lower left: de László / 1931. XII. W.

Juley negative PPJ-0058547 Mr Harvey Firestone Jr

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 71: Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. December 12, 1931

Private Collection

De László painted seven portraits of members of the Firestone family. The present portrait was completed in December 1931, Washington, D.C., as a pendant to that of the sitter’s wife, painted in Paris in 1928 [110828]. The artist recorded in his diary that he completed this portrait for a reduced honorarium, as Firestone Jr had arranged for the artist to travel to Miami, Florida in March 1932, to paint two large portraits of his parents, Harvey Firestone Sr [110649] and Idabelle Smith Firestone [11334].^[1] While in Miami de László also painted the sitter’s two daughters, Elizabeth [111586] and Martha [111667], his aunt Elizabeth Idabelle Firestone [111303] and Mrs James Smith Bush [111977]. A preparatory drawing [5076], most likely of this sitter, remained in the artist’s studio on his death.

According to de László’s diary, he painted the present portrait on 12 and 13 December 1931. He thought the sitter: “a clever little fellow – very shrood [sic] like his father,” and recorded in his diary that “his portrait is good – it has its keen sharp eyes – good features.”^[2] They spent lengthy periods of time together during the artist’s stay in the US and together they attended the unveiling of the artist’s portrait of Ambrose Swasey on 19 December at the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce [7227]. They returned to the Firestone family home, Harbel Manor, in Akron, Ohio, the next day and the artist selected the places where the portraits of Mr and Mrs Firestone Sr would hang.

Harvey Samuel Firestone Jr, was born on 20 April 1898, in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest of six surviving children of Harvey S. Firestone Sr (1868-1938), founder and president of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and his wife Idabelle Smith (1874-1954). He attended the Asheville School in North Carolina (1912-16) and Princeton University (1916-1920). While at Princeton he learned to fly and obtained his pilot’s licence from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. During the First World War he served with the U.S. Naval Aviation Corps. After graduating from Princeton he joined Firestone Tire and Rubber, overseeing the company’s steel products division.  

The sitter worked closely with his father and took over the presidency of the company on the latter’s retirement in 1932. During his tenure the company’s sales doubled, reaching $1.3 billion by 1963. He retired from the position of CEO when he reached age 65 in 1963, but remained as chairman of the board until 1966, honorary chairman from 1966 to 1969, and honorary director thereafter.

Throughout his career Firestone served in a number of capacities on governmental, civic, religious, educational and international boards, commissions and committees. He received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Service, the highest honour that department can give to civilians not in government service. He was also decorated by the governments of Liberia, Germany, Spain, Finland and France. He was active in the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and served on the international committee of the YMCA and the United Negro College Fund. He was the author of Man on the Move: The Story of Transportation (1967).

On 25 June 1921, he married Elizabeth Parke (1897-1990), daughter of Guy James Parke of Decatur, Illinois, , at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Decatur.^[3] They had a son, Harvey S. Firestone III (born 1930), and three daughters, Elizabeth (born 1922), Martha (born 1925) and Anne (born 1933). They spent their time between their homes Twin Oaks in Akron, Ohio, and Ocean Lawn in Newport, Rhode Island.

The sitter died at Twin Oaks on 1 June 1973.^[4]

PROVENANCE:

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection

MD 2013