Hananiah Harari studied with Fernand Leger in Paris in the early 1930s before returning to his native United States. Inspired by Leger's Cubist style and radical politics, Harari joined a group of young artists working on murals under the New Deal's Works Progress Administration. Even though he incorporated figural elements into his work, he also became involved with the American Abstract Artists group. Like many other Jewish artists, Harari was concerned with the rise of fascism in Europe. Portraying fascist leaders as ludicrous figures, The Dictators is his biting prewar satire of Hitler and Mussolini.