The Harvest
1955
Oil on?board
Signed and dated l.r.

19" x 25.5" (sight)
26.75" x 33.5" (framed)

Provenance
The Collection of Hazel Goodier (1904-1998)
Acquired in the Philippines, 1950s
Descended in the family to the present day

The following is a background of Hazel Goodier and her time spent in the Philippines, based upon family archives:

In the late 1950s Hazel Goodier returned to the United States. She left the Philippines and the life she had known since 1934. She left behind a husband who had died, a teaching position at the American School, and the sight of Santo Tomas University where she and her family were held as prisoners of war for three years.

Paintings by Fernando Amorsolo, ?Grand Old Man of Philippine Art,? and Oscar Navarro, whose works belong to the school of Amorsolo, reflect what she may have come to cherish about the Philippines while living there.

From about 1895, generations of the Goodier family worked in Colorado, New Mexico and Peru, mining gold, manganese, and other minerals. George Percy Goodier Jr., married Hazel Golding-Dwyer in 1927 and she became the stepmother of his young son, George Newton Goodier.

The family of three moved to the Philippines in 1934 to pursue mining opportunities there, joining George Percy?s brother and his family. Both families maintained residences in Manila although the brothers, both mining engineers, were often away on various islands including Luzon, Mindoro and Mindanao. George Newton recounted his delight in joining his father at these (then) remote locations during school vacations when he was often the only non-Filipino child around. Rural scenes like those in the paintings would have been familiar to the family.

When the Japanese military entered the Philippines during World War II, every member of the family was interned in the civilian concentration camp at Santo Tomas University, beginning in early January 1942. The over 3000 internees in the camp petitioned their captors for permission to form committees to maintain some semblance of normal life, including organizing a school for the children. Hazel, with her teaching degree, served as one of the teachers.

After 3 years of great hardship and deprivation, the internees were liberated on February 3, 1945. Although most of the family returned to the United States soon after the war ended, George Percy and Hazel remained in the Philippines as he tried to recoup what was lost of his business. He died in October 1953, having never regained his health after interment. Hazel and their daughter Beth (1937-1985), lived in Pasay City near Manila, where Hazel taught at The American School from January 1947 to late March 1956.

Hazel returned with her collection to California by summer of 1957, living there for the next forty years. In 1997 she moved to live with her step-son George Newton and his wife Mildred. After Hazel?s death in 1998, the Amorsolo landscape was displayed in George and Mildred?s home, where George enjoyed it until his death a year later. Mildred Goodier moved eventually to live with her daughter and son-in-law where the Amorsolo and Navarro paintings have been displayed and enjoyed.?

The work has never been restored or cleaned. Only slightly darkened varnish in areas, otherwise in a nice state of preservation.