Harry Hasheian, 77, of Chestnut Hill, a widely known local artist and teacher, died July 18 at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Mr. Hasheian, four of whose works are in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, retired in 1984 after serving for nearly two decades as an assistant professor of art at Edinboro University.
He also had served for three years, from 1987 to 1990, as director of visual communication at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
Mr. Hasheian said a reviewer once described his work as “playful, yet disturbing,” which he said was “an apt description.” He said he was strongly influenced by the German Expressionists and by artists Arshile Gorky and Wassily Kandinsky.
His work has been exhibited at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco and the Butler Museum of Art, as well as at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and is held in private collections and museums.
Before joining the faculty at Edinboro University, he had taught at what was then the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. He also had taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Cabrini College, Mercyhurst College and the Woodmere Art Museum. He taught at both the elementary and secondary levels at Salem High School and the Green Tree School.
Born in Philadelphia, he was a graduate of West Philadelphia High School. He received a bachelor's degree in art education from what is now the University of the Arts and a master of fine arts degree in the history and practice of art from the University of Pennsylvania.
He was a recipient of the Thorton Oakley Medal for Creative Achievement, the Bocour Award for Excellence in Painting, and was chosen to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine.
Mr. Hasheian is survived by his wife, Marilyn; daughters Molly (Hovanness) Papazian, of Los Angeles, Hester Hasheian, of Detroit, Mich., and Gwen Hasheian, of Quinton, N.J.; sons Max Hasheian and James Hasheian, both of Philadelphia; a sister, Mary Hasheian Mumford, of Selbyville, Del., and two grandchildren. A sister, Hester Hasheian Young, preceded him in death. – WF
