Harold Josephs, 91
Harold Josephs was known as an artist not just in East Hampton, where he was a part-time resident since 1960, but also in New York City, where he had an award-winning career as an art director and commercial artist for four decades, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he spent many winters. Mr. Josephs, who was called Hal, died at home in New York City on April 22. He was 91 and had pneumonia.
Born on Sept. 16, 1924, in the Bronx, Mr. Josephs w-as the only son of Joseph Josephowitz and the former Sadie Weinberg, who had immigrated to the United States from Russia around the turn of the century. He grew up in the same Bronx apartment building where his future wife, Florence Brown, also lived.
His artistic abilities were discovered by an art teacher while he was a student at Evander Childs High School in the Bronx. At the encouragement of that teacher, he applied and was accepted to Cooper Union as an architecture major. World War II would interrupt his studies, however, and he was drafted into the Army when he was 19. He was stationed in the U.S., France, England, and Germany as a medic and as a military police officer guarding German prisoners of war.
Even in a time of war, there was art in his life. As a P.O.W. guard, Mr. Josephs befriended an older prisoner who was an accomplished artist from Berlin, for whom Mr. Josephs would smuggle extra paper and pens into the camp. His prisoner friend eventually gave him a painting he made in the camp, one that his family treasures today. Mr. Josephs was honorably discharged from the Army in 1946 with four medals.
He returned to New York, graduated from Cooper Union, and launched a successful career in commercial art and advertising. He received several Clio awards and two gold medals from the Art Directors Club. He retired in the mid-1980s, after which he taught advertising design for a few years at the Parsons School of Design. He enjoyed working in watercolors and pastels and was known to always have a sketch pad nearby.
In 1952, Mr. Josephs and Ms. Brown were married, and they had two children. They began renting a two-room cottage in East Hampton in 1960, and in 1965 they bought their house in East Hampton on a dirt road off Accabonac Road. They enjoyed cultivating their property into lush gardens and were longtime members of the Horticultural Society of the Hamptons. They spent several years in East Hampton as full-time residents.
Mr. and Mrs. Josephs eventually began traveling the world and spent at least 10 winters in San Miguel de Allende. Influenced by the rich Latin color palette he observed there, Mr. Josephs produced a prolific body of work in pastels and exhibited in many galleries there. In East Hampton, Mr. Josephs was an active participant in Guild Hall’s Clothesline Art Sale and the Artists Alliance of the Hamptons, and briefly taught art at the East Hampton Middle School. He could often be found plein air painting at Louse Point in Springs with his stool and easel, wearing a big straw Mexican hat.
Mr. Josephs leaves his wife of 63 years, Florence. He also leaves a daughter, Beth Josephs of North Haven, a son, Daniel Josephs of New York City and East Hampton, four grandchildren, and a sister, Gertrude Rosenbluth of New Jersey. A private family gathering will be planned to celebrate his life.