Leon Haffner (1881 - 1972) Painting Dated '76?

Found this painting (I would have sworn it is a painting until I saw the stain near top when I photographed it - a lot of his work is called gauche on paper? Could this be that & why the stain? It's under glass so I can't tell if a painting or a print without taking it apart.
The unusual thing is it is dated '76! So if it's 1876 OR 1976 - neither one fits Leon Haffner, even though all the art work that came up googling him looks just like my piece.
Any ideas why it has this date?
Thanks!

 

Gauche though it may be, think the word you want is gouache.

 

And think the year you want is '78.

Debora

 

What is it painted on? It looks like it could be gouache, which you would expect to be painted on paper. Gouache is a form of opaque watercolor. Stains like that do show up on paper. They can appear on canvas as well, but generally don't show from the front with oils or acrylics.

It's a common kind of stain, but I don't know the mechanics.

Maybe there's a Haffner senior and junior? Do other examples of the signature have that little anchor?

I agree that it says 78.

 

Can't be the same painting. That's no "clipper."

 

Look at this one. There's a number 150 following his signature, plus that little anchor.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/486807692/leon-haffner-french-gouache-on-paper

He was clearly extremely prolific and you're right, JM about his style being very recognizable. I was actually getting bored with how much they were the same.

 

Right you are, INH.

 

So the 78 is not a date and it appears there is no date significance to the numbers on his paintings. The copyright date for the ones in INH's link are all 23 Mar 1936.

 

How it got from 76 to 78 from google page to posting...I don't have a clue - wait, I turned 58 last Tues; OMG! pre alzheimer's!!!

 

Well, Happy Belated Birthday, then!

 

Maybe his 78th painting of this scene? :0

 

Thanks - any suggestion how I describe the 78?

 

This one has a 100.


http://historic-marine-france.com/huile/haffner.htm

 

Is this a round of "what's different between these two pictures?"

No wonder he could crank them out so fast!

 

The one I posted is described in French as a "gouache au pochoir" = gouache stencil.

 

That certainly explains it - stencil the 2 boats and the white caps, fill in the crew, paint the deck in a different color than you used last time - and find places for 3 little happy birds! Voila!

 

If you google image search "gouache au pochoir" many of Heffners show up too.

 

You could have gone all day and night without adding the "happy birds" comment, Bakersgma.

That is shades of the learn-how-to paint fellow who was on PBS each week (we watched him many moons ago but don't know if he is still doing it).

He had a really "fast" method for "doing" trees . . . or as he always said while dabbing at the trees with green paint "happy trees, happy trees."

His name is/was Bob Ross and there is at least one youtube video of him doing "happy trees."