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THE NEW DEAL FINE ARTS PROJECTS
A Bibliography, 1933-1992
by
Martin R. Kalfatovic
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Metuchen, NJ., & London
1994
a
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kalfatovic, Martin R., 1961-
The New Deal fine arts projects : a bibliography, 1933- 1992 / by Martin R. Kalfatovic. p. cm.
Includes indexes.
ISBN 0-8108-2749-2 (acid-free paper)
1. Federal aid to art — United States — Bibliography. 2. Art — Conservation and restoration — United States — Bibliography. 3. New Deal, 1933-1939. I. Tide. Z5961.U5K36 1994 [N8837] 016.3530085'4— dc 20 93-31 1 16
Copyright © 1994 by Mardn R. Kalfatovic Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
To Mary
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments yii
A New Deal Fine Arts Project Chronology ix
Listof Abbreviations and Acronyms xix
Introduction: A Silver Lining to the Great Depression xxi
Annotated Bibliography
1933-1934 1
1935 28
1936 48
1937 78
1938 115
1939 158
1940 190 1941-1943 213 1944-1969 241 1970-1974 272 1975-1979 290 1980-1985 309 1986-1992 336
APPENDIX A: Who's Who in the New Deal Fine Arts
Projects 367
APPENDIX B: Exhibitions of New Deal Art, 1934-1990 374 APPENDIX C: Section Competitions, October 16, 1934,
to July 1943 417
APPENDIX D: WPA/FAP Community Art Centers 441
APPENDIX E: PWAP Regions and Regional Directors 446
APPENDIX F: Legislation for a Permanent Art Project 448
Author Index 451
Subject Index 467
About the Author 505
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to the staff of the Archives of American Art, past, present, and future, without whom research on the New Deal art projects would be a much more difficult task.
Thanks also to the staff of the Library of Congress.
A very special thanks to the inter-library loan librarians of Arlington Public Library, particularly Sally Dewey; and at The Catholic University of America, Ann Hiller, for finding all those obscure master's theses and endless rolls of micro- film.
And thanks to my wife, Mary, for putting up with having every museum visit turned into a game of "who's who in the New Deal."
Vll
A NEW DEAL FINE ARTS PROJECT CHRONOLOGY
1929
October 1929
Stock market plunge heralds beginning of the Great
Depression
1932
November 1932
FDR elected President
1933
March 20, 1933
FDR inaugurated
May 9, 1933
The artist George Biddle writes to FDR urging the imple- mentation of a Federal program to support the artists of America
May 12, 1933
Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 approved; creates the Federal Emergency Relief Administration with Harry L. Hopkins as administrator
June 1933
Procurement Division created within the Treasury Depart- ment
ix
X The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
November 9, 1933
President Roosevelt, by executive order, creates the Civil Works Administration under which the PWAP was initiated
December 8, 1933 PWAP initiated
1934
February 1934
Artists' Union formed to protect and forward the rights of the artist
April 24-May 20, 1934
"National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" opens at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washing- ton, DC
May 20, 1934
PWAP terminated; projects already begun continue under various funding schemes until July 1935
October 16, 1934
Section of Painting and Sculpture created by order of Henry Morgenthau
November 1934
First issue of Art Front
1935
May 6, 1935
Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Adminis- tration
July 25, 1935
TRAP established with WPA funds
Chronology
XI
August 2, 1935
Federal Project Number One announced; Holger Cahill named national director of the FAP
August 29, 1935
First Federal monies allocated to Federal One
November 26, 1935
Administrative Order No. 35 issued by Hopkins; the order exempts up to 25% of Federal One employees from meeting relief requirements (the rest of the WPA is limited to 10% non-reUef employees)
December 27, 1935
Federal Art Project Gallery opened in New York City
1936
June 30, 1936
Employment on Federal One peaks at 44,797
July 1936
Jacob Baker, assistant head of the WPA and active pro- moter of Federal One, resigns; Ellen S. Woodward replaces Baker
August 1936
Colonel Brehon B. Somervell named head of WPA in New
York City
September 14-October 12, 1936
"New Horizons in American Art" opens at the Museum of Modern Art
December 1, 1936
Protesting changes in the FAP, artists riot in New York City; 219 arrested
xii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
1937
January 1, 1937
Sirovic h l)ill, H.J. Res. 79, introduced
August 16, 1937
Coffee bill, H.R. 8239, introduced
November 1937
Harlem C^ommunity Art Center opens
1938
January 21, 1938
Revised Coffee bill, H.R. 9102, introduced, Pepper bill, S. 3296, introduced; in Senate
June 15, 1938
Sirovich bill (H.R. 671) tabled by a vote of 195 to 35, effectively killing it
June 27, 1938
Administrative Order No. 62 cuts monthly wages on Fed- eral One (average wage in New York City goes from $103.40 to $96.00)
July 1, 1938
TRAP discontinued
October 1938
Section of Painting and Sculpture renamed Section of Fine Arts
December 1938
Hopkins resigns as head of WPA to become Secretary of Commerce
Ellen S. Woodward resigns as head of Women's and Professionals' Projects
Chronology xiii
December 24, 1938
Francis C. Harrington named as head of WPA
1939
January 3, 1939
Florence Kerr named head of Women's and Professionals' Projects
April 4 through October 15, 1939
"Frontiers of American Art," opens at the M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco
July 1, 1939
FDR's Reorganization Plan takes effect transferring the Works Progress Administration to the newly created Fed- eral Works Agency and renaming it the Work Projects Administration
Under the same Reorganization Plan, the Section is trans- ferred from the Treasury Department to the Federal Works Agency
July 31, 1939
General Letter No. 278 demands that all WPA Federal One projects have non-WPA sponsorship and changes their name to the WPA Arts Projects
September 1939
World War II begins in Europe; in the United States, governmental activity begins to shift from relief to defense
November 2-21, 1939
Section art show: "Exhibition: Painting and Sculpture Designed for Federal Buildings" at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
September 1939
New York World's Fair, a major showcase of WPA/FAP and Section work, opens
xiv The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
December 17, 1939
Death of (Congressman William I. Sirovich, staunch sup- porter of the New Deal art projects and sponsor of fine arts legislation
1940-1945
February 10, 1940
Operating Procedure No. G-5 puts the WPA/FAP under the Division of Community Service
September 30, 1940
Francis C. Harrington dies; replaced as head of WPA by Howard O. Hunter
November 25-December 1, 1940
"National Art Week" sponsored by the Section and WPA/ FAP
December 7, 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor draws the United States into World War II
February 10, 1942
Division of Community Service (under which the WPA/ FAP was operating) becomes the Service Division
April 18, 1942
Service Letter No. 3 discontinues nearly all WPA/FAP activities
January 27, 1943
Death of Edward Bruce
June 30, 1943
All arts projects of the WPA officially come to an end with the termination of the WPA
July 1943
Section ceases to operate
chronology xv
February 1944
Hundreds of WPA/FAP canvases sold by the pound to a New Jersey junk dealer as surplus material
June 1944
Tax Payer's Murals, first dissertation on New Deal art projects after their completion, written by Erica B. Ruben- stein at Harvard University
April 12, 1945
Death of FDR
1946-1960
January 29, 1946
Death of Harry L. Hopkins, former WPA administrator
1950
Publication of Erwin O. Christensen's The Index of American Design
May 31, 1960
Death of Forbes Watson
Julys, 1960
Death of Holger Cahill
1961-1970
September 16-October 7, 1961
"Art of the Thirties" at Smolin Gallery, New York; first exhibition of New Deal art since the end of the projects.
1962
Archives of American Art acquires the papers of Edward Bruce, laying the groundwork for its massive documenta- tion of the New Deal art projects
xvi The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
1963
Archives of American Art begins major collection project of material related to the New Deal art projects
July 9, 1963
"The U.S. Government Art Project: Some Distinguished Alumni" opens at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art; first major exhibition of New Deal art
April 6-May 13, 1966
"Federal Patronage: 1933-1943" exhibition of New Deal art at the University of Maryland organized by Dr. Francis V. O'Connor begins a major reevaluation of the New Deal art projects
1969 Francis V. O'Connor publishes Federal Support for the Visual Arts
1969 to 1985
Major phase of New Deal art project scholarship, that of documenting the projects and locating works of art, docu- ments, and artists involved on the various projects; exhibi- tions and monographs reintroduce the public to this "art for the people"
1973-1990
1973
Francis V. O'Connor publishes Art for the Millions, a collec- tion of essays planned by Holger Cahill for publication in 1936
1979
Karal Ann Marling's "New Deal Iconography" in Prospects among the first to initiate second phase of New Deal art project scholarship, that of interpreting, aesthetically, so- cially, and semiotically, the meaning of the art works
Chronology xvii
produced; Marling expands this in Wall to Wall America (1982)
1980
First pubhcation (on microfiche) of the complete collec- tion of Index of American Design
1982-1983
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Roosevelt Adminis- tration, many museums and galleries hold New Deal art project exhibitions
1989-1990
The National Endowment for the Arts faces cutbacks and has its existence threatened for many of the same reasons the New Deal art projects were gutted 50 years earlier in 1939
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
AAA Archives of American Art (Smithsonian
Institution)
AAPL American Artists' Professional League
AIA American Institute of Architects
B/W Black and white illustration
CWA Civil Works Administration
DAI Dissertations Abstracts International
FAP Federal Art Project
FERA Federal Emergency Relief Administration
FMP Federal Music Project
FTP Federal Theatre Project
FVO See Entry #1335
FWA Federal Works Agency
FWP Federal Writers' Project
GPO General Printing Office
GSA General Services Administration
HARPURS Harpur's Index to Master's Theses in Art
HMSG Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
(Smithsonian Institution)
IAD Index of American Design
MAI Masters Abstracts International
MCDONALD See Entry # 1334
MET CAT Library catalog of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art
MOMA Museum of Modern Art
NCFA National Collection of Fine Arts
(Smithsonian Institution) ; Later NMAA
NMAA National Museum of American Art
OCLC Online Computer Library Catalog
PWA Public Works Administration
PWAP Public Works of Art Project
xix
XX
The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Section Treasury Department Section of Painting and
Sculpture (later, Section of Fine Arts) TDAP Treasuiy Department Ait Projects (covering
both the Section and TRAP) TERA Temporary Emergency Relief Administradon
TRAP Treasury Relief Art Project
VF Verdcal File
WILCOX See Enuy # 0134
WPA Works Progress Administration (after 1939,
Work Projects Administration) WPA/FAP General term covering all art projects of the
WPA, 1935-1943
INTRODUCTION:
A SILVER LINING TO THE GREAT
DEPRESSION
Prelude
When in October 1929 the New York Stock Exchange plunged dramatically and heralded the start of the Great Depression, artists soon felt the impact of this financial calamity. Former patrons quickly turned their fiscal attention to their own increasingly desperate situation. Even more than before, art was seen as a luxury America could not
afford.
As the economic crisis worsened, President Hoover's at- tempts to assuage the damage to the nation's economy met with litde success. By the time the 1932 election rolled around. Hoover stood little chance of re-election.
When FDR was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, American artists had no promise of assistance. Their plight was so precarious that Audrey McMahon (director of the College Art Association and editor of its journal Parnassus) felt compelled to ask "May the Artist Live?"i McMahon an- swered her own question with a qualified yes. Drawing from the examples of community and state relief projects for artists in New York, McMahon asked for more of the same. Additionally, she called for a concerted national effort to aid the American artist, both for his/her own good and the good of America:
In all industries we are making use of our national resources, to aid our own people. Let us make use of the talents of our own artists. Let us aid ourselves and our children to a better and clearer understanding, and thus improve the condition of the community, keep
xxi
xxii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
unemployed boys and girls constructively occupied, beautify our public buildings, put teachers into our neighborhood houses and schools. Let us banish apathy and misunderstanding and open our minds to an ap- preciation of the beautiful. Let us so condition our- selves that it may be said of us by posterity that this was an era of cultural development. And let us help the American artist to live.-
In just a few months, and after prodding and prompting from a number of quarters, FDR's New Deal made its first effort to include the American artist.
Uncle Sam: Patron of the Arts
The New Deal created not one, but four art projects: three distinct and one related. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) , the WPA's Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) , and the Section of Painting and Sculpture (the Section) were sepa- rate entities with little or no overlapping of functions. The Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), though administered by the Section, was funded with WPA monies and generally employed Federal Art Project or Section artists.
The distinctions were not always clear to the public even at the time. In our own era they have become even more blurred as the passing years have stirred the New Deal's alphabet soup into an incomprehensible goulash of initials and acronyms. A later statement by McMahon claimed that the projects were "one and the same thing. "^ However, this was not so; each of the New Deal art projects was a distinct entity with its own rules, regulations, and goals.
Biddle, Bruce, and the PWAP
CREATION OF THE PWAP
The younger artists of America are conscious as they have never been of the social revolution that our coun- try and civilization are going through; and they would
Introduction ^^"*
be eager to express these ideals in a permanent art form if they were given the government's co-operation.
George Biddle was already an established artist when he wrote the above to the newly elected FDR in 1933. Biddle was a graduate of both Harvard and Groton, as was FDR. Though it has been debated whether this nudge from a schoolboy acquaintance sparked FDR's interest in providing some sort of Federal assistance to the American artist, FDR's quick response ("It is very delightful to hear from you and I am interested in your suggestion")^ as well as the enthusiasm both he and Eleanor Roosevelt expressed for the art projects indicate that Riddle's suggestion fell on fertile ground.
Whether it was Biddle 's prompting or that and a combina- tion of other factors, on November 29, 1933, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence W. Robert, Jr., invited Frederic A. Delano, Charles Moore, Rexford Tugwell, Harry L. Hopkins, Henry T. Hunt, and Edward Bruce to serve on a committee known as the Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts. First meeting on December 8 at Edward Bruce's Washington home with all the members of the committee as well as Eleanor Roosevelt and an impressive list of the directors of America's foremost museums present, the Com- mittee soon drew up a working plan for an effort to assist America's artists.
By five o'clock that afternoon, the foundations of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) as well as its basic operating procedure were settied upon. Being a governmen- tal agency and bound by the red tape such an association entails, among the first acts of the PWAP were the hiring of clerks, accountants, and disbursers. All was not bureaucracy, however, and within four days of the founding of the PWAP (on December 12, 1933) , the first of the allocated 2,500 artist slots were being filled.
EDWARD BRUCE AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PWAP
If George Biddle was an instigator of the plan of the PWAP, Edward Bruce brought about its reality. Bruce, a lawyer and business executive, had abandoned his private practice for a
xxiv The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
career in public service. A respected artist by 1933, Bruce was able to bring the varying sensibilities of the artist, the lawyer, the businessman, and the politician together for the advancement of the PWAP and later the Section.^
The PWAP divided the country into 16 regions, each one of which was supervised by a Regional Committee, usually chaired by a prominent figure in the art world (see Appendix E for a list of the regions and the chairmen).
From December 11, 1933, through June 30, 1934, the PWAP employed a total of 3,749 different artists. The total cost of the PWAP was $1,312,177.93 of which $1,184,748.32 (90.29%) went to artists' salaries.
In April and May of 1934, a huge display of PWAP work was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. The exhibition consisted of 511 items (out of 15,663 completed) including eight large murals, seven galleries of oil paintings, two more of watercolors and prints, a number of sculptures, a selection of Indian arts (rugs, paintings, pottery), and a sampling of modern crafts.
The exhibition was an almost unanimous critical success. Mary Morsell commented in Art News that "the work of many of the P.W.A.P. artists seems to show a certain psychological relief and gratitude for this opportunity to paint without the subconscious necessity of following and anticipating the latest trends in modern style. "^ Large crowds filled the galleries at the Corcoran and Edward Bruce 's PWAP ap- peared to be one of the early successes of the New Deal.
CONTROVERSY
The PWAP was not without controversy. Much of the trouble centered around the hiring practices of the PWAP offices in New York City. Juliana Force, director of the Whimey Museum of American Art, was first attacked by more conservative artist organizations (such as the Society of Mural Painters and the American Artists Professional League) for promoting "mod- em" art at their expense; more radical elements accused her of ignoring radical and militant artists. By early January 1934, a series of misunderstandings and confrontations between Force and the radical artists led to skirmishes with the police and
Introduction^ xxv
eventually forced Force to move the PWAP's New York office from the Whitney Museum.
Though stylistic controversies did occur within the PWAP, it was thematic content and the politics of the artists themselves that were most controversial. They would continue to dog all government sponsorship of the arts down to the present.
The Coit Memorial Tower in San Francisco was completed in 1933 and in the early months of 1934, the PWAP was commissioned to decorate the interior with murals. When journalists inspected the murals before the opening, it was noticed that many of the panels contained such "un- American" images as portrayals of radical union leaders, Communist literature in library and newsstand scenes, and a red star.
After much heated debate and a flurry of memos between Washington and San Francisco, the Tower eventually opened to the public a few months late with only the red star removed.
END OF THE PWAP
Funding for the PWAP was limited. Though there were a number of protests by artists and others to continue the PWAP, on June 30, 1934, the project came to an end. Lawrence W. Roberts, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in his final Report on the PWAP concludes his comments thus:
It [the PWAP] has enriched the country to an extent that cannot be estimated, and taught us definitely that some organization like the Public Works of Art project will always deserve the support of an enlightened gov- ernment.^
The Section of Fine Arts
CREATION
Perhaps to prove itself an enlightened government, the Roosevelt Administration soon found a governmental body
xxvi The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
capable, if not always willing, to inherit the brief legacy of the PWAP. Through one of those odd quirks of administrative bureaucracy, the United States Treasury Department (through its Procurement Division and that divisions' predecessors) had been responsible for all Federal architec- ture since the eighteenth century. This set-up made the Treasury Department responsible for the construction of all Federal buildings, including local post offices throughout the counti'y.
With the memory of the success of the PWAP and contin- ued calls for further governmental sponsorship of the arts, the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morganthau Jr. (on October 16, 1934) established the Section of Painting and Sculpture.*
FUNDING AND ADMINISTRATION
The Section, as it came to be known, was administratively placed in the Procurement Division Public Works Branch (after July 1, 1936, the Public Buildings Branch) of the Treasury Department. The Procurement Division had been created in 1933 in an attempt to simplify government con- tracting by bringing the architecture, engineering, and sup- ply aspects of the Federal government under the control of a single Director of Procurement. That the decoration of Federal buildings would be another key element, just like the design or engineering of the buildings, was the logic of placing the Section within the Procurement Division.^
The Section's administration was full of familiar faces from the days of the PWAP: Edward Bruce was the new director of the Section; Edward Rowan was named assistant director; and Forbes Watson was appointed as advisor.
The primary function of the Section was to
be directed toward the selection of art objects of high quality for the decoration of public buildings in those cases where funds for this purpose are available. The cooperation of people throughout the country inter-
*In October of 1938, the Section of Painting and Sculpture was renamed the Section of Fine Arts.
Introduction xxvii
ested in art will be sought, and the artists of the communities selected will be encouraged to submit their works for acceptance. . . . The quality of the work will be the test in all cases.^^
Relief, it should be noted, was never among the stated goals of the Section. Unlike any of the other New Deal art projects, the Section was concerned only with an artist's ability and not his financial status.
It was Edward Bruce 's initial goal to have the Section supported through money that had already been appropri- ated. Existing rules set aside up to 1% of the cost of Federal buildings for decoration. The Section was to use this money to commission artists to adorn Federal buildings with murals, sculpture, and other "art objects." As it turned out, the 1% figure was more often a hope than a reality for most Federal construction. Bruce spent much of his time fighting with architects, planners and Treasury officials for his funds. ^^
COMPETITIONS AND COMMISSIONS
To parcel out the commissions for the work that would be generated by this funding, the Section began a series of competitions that would be its hallmark and distinguish it in concept from the WPA/FAP.
Not all Section work— and in fact only a small percen- tage*— ^was actually commissioned by competition. A great deal of Section work was actually completed by artists who were chosen directly by the official staff of the Section or by commissions appointed by Section officials.
The competitions, which were announced in the Section's irregularly issued Bulletin,'''' were not usually open to the general artistic public. Most of the competitions were re- stricted in some way. Many of the competitions were by invitation only; others were open only to artists who lived in a particular state or region. ^^
The competitions did give the Section a great deal of
*The Section held just over 200 competitions, but awarded in excess of 1,300
commissions.
**Twenty-four issues of greatly varying length were issued on a very irregular
schedule between 1934 and 1941.
xxviii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
The competitions did give the Section a great deal of publicit)'. Announcements of the competitions and the win- ners were often reprinted in the art press and even occasion- ally in the general press.
Though the Section did sponsor a single competition for water colors, a number of sculptural competitions, and a few miscellaneous competitions, the vast majority of the competi- tions were for murals that were to be installed in public buildings. Post offices and courthouses in small, medium, and large cities and towns across the country were filled with Section murals, in most cases to the great delight of the townspeople.
Litdeton, Colorado; Salina, Illinois; Fort Scott, Kansas; Deer Lodge, Montana; Hot Springs, New Mexico; and Boone, North Carolina, are just a few of the communities that received Section murals.
In the fall of 1939, the Section held its most ambitious competition when it announced the "48 State Competi- tion." The goal of the Section in this competition was to place a Section mural in every state of the union. The competition was a huge success on nearly every level, garner- ing the Section a large spread in Life magazine with illustra- tions of every winning mural. '"^
The Section would also become responsible for decorating the huge expanses of new Federal buildings that were being created in the Federal Triangle of Washington, DC. The Federal Triangle, bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue on the north. Constitution Avenue on the south, and 15th Street on the west, was planned in the 1920s and 1930s as a great enclave of Federal buildings. Located here were the Depart- ment of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, the Depart- ment of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Post Office Department (since relocated), most of which were decorated with Section-commissioned art.
The Section also ran a competition for other agencies. The US Maritime Commission and the New York World's Fair were beneficiaries of this program. A competition con- ducted by the Section for the Treasury Department in the spring of 1938 resulted in a bit of art that has touched nearly every American since that time. The competition, which
Introduction ^^^^
closed on April 15, 1938, was for a new five-cent piece to replace the buffalo nickel. The winner of the competition was Felix Schlag, who created the Jefferson nickel, which has been in circulation ever since.
"DEMOCRATIC" ART
The work championed by the Section aspired to be both "democratic" as well as of the highest quality. Artists who could create the high quality art demanded by the Section were sometimes not interested in putting in the time and effort required to plan for a Section commission when there was the possibility the design would be turned down or changed. At other times, the "democratic" art created by Section artists was criticized by the art establishment, or even the Section itself, for being too radical or even un- American.^'*
Often at odds with the WPA's own Federal Art Project, great changes awaited both art projects when 1939 came around.
The Treasury ReUef Art Project (TRAP)
The Treasury ReHef Art Project (TRAP) mingled the commitment to the highest artistic standards as advocated by the Section and the relief element that distinguished the WPA's Federal Art Project.
Begun on July 25, 1935, with $530,784 in WPA funds allocated to the Treasury Department, the TRAP was envi- sioned by Edward Bruce as a vehicle to put the best and neediest artists to work decorating Federal buildings.
Though the TRAP was strictly a relief project, with the artists having to meet the various income and employment standards set by the WPA, Bruce made certain that the program was kept small enough so that only the highest quaUty artists would be employed. The TRAP always em- ployed only a small number of artists and at its height had only 356 workers. ^^
XXX The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Headed by the artist Olin Dows, who was assisted by Henry LaFarge, Cecil Jones, and Alice Sharkey, the entire project was overseen directly by Bruce. The TRAP produced work, as did the Section, primarily for Federal buildings; owing to its iniique position, however, it also undertook a nimiber of special projects. Amongst the most important of these special projects was creating murals and sculpture for housing projects constructed under the Public Works Administration in New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Camden, and Cleveland. ^^
Though generally a successful program, the financial situation in 1938 was not conducive to the continuance of the TRAP and it came to a close on June 30, 1938, after allocating a total of $771,521.^7
The Works Progress Administration's Federal Art
Project BEGINNINGS
On May 6, 1935, Executive Order 7034 issued by FDR created the Works Progress Administration. With the exam- ple of the PWAP as a semi-relief project for ardsts, Harry L. Hopkins of the WPA announced on August 2, 1935, the creation of the WPA's Federal Project Number One. Federal One, as it came to be knov^n, provided for the direct relief employment of creative people in four categories: theatre arts (the Federal Theatre Project), literature (the Federal Writers' Project), music (the Federal Music Project), and the visual arts (the Federal Art Project).
The purposes and functions of the Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) was clearly stated a number of times:
The primary objectives of [the Federal Art Project is] to consen'e the talent and skill of artists who, through no fault of their own, found themselves on the relief rolls and without means to continue their work; to encour- age young artists of definite ability; to integrate the fine with the practical arts and, more especially, the arts in general with the daily life of the community.'^
Introduction xxxi
The Works Progress Administration itself was created with the idea of providing work relief to the American population unable to find employment in their professions. It was only logical that artists too should find a home in the WPA. Once the idea of work relief for the American artist had been broached at the WPA, artists found the first of their many friends in the person of Jacob Baker, the WPA's assistant administrator.
Jacob Baker almost at once began drafting a plan for the relief of artists funded through the WPA, and on September 30, 1935, the basic outline of the plan — ^which eventually became Federal One — ^was issued in Supplement #1 to the Bulletin #29, a publication of the WPA.
Federal One was placed under Baker's control, and on August 2, 1935, the four national directors of the four projects were announced: Hallie Flanagan for the Federal Theatre Project; Nikolai Sokoloff for the Federal Music Project; Henry Alsberg for the Federal Writers' Project; and Holger Cahill for the Federal Art Project. ^^
HOLGER CAHILL
Born Sveinn Kirstjan Bjarnarson in Snaefellsnessysla, Ice- land, on January 13, 1887, Holger Cahill moved with his family at an early age first to Canada and later to South Dakota.
He lived in poverty for most of his childhood, and when he was eleven, his father deserted the family. With his mother ill, Cahill was sent to live with another Icelandic family fifty miles away. Treated badly, he ran away to Canada at age thirteen and worked at a wide variety of jobs until his late teens. Cahill — still Bjarnarson — eventually decided on a writing career and rode a freight train to New York City where he took night courses in journalism at New York University.
Changing his name, he worked for a number of suburban New York papers and took more courses at Columbia Univer- sity, and became influenced by the work of the philosopher John Dewey. Building up a series of friendships with his Greenwich Village artist-neighbors, Cahill began to write about modern art. In 1922, at age thirty-five, he joined the
xxxii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Newark Museum working under John Cotton Dana on the iiuiseum's modern art and folk art collections.
hi 1932, he became exhibitions director at the Museum of Modern Art and was soon a well-known authority on Ameri- can art. hi addition to organizing a number of important exhibitions at the Newark Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, Cahill was writing novels and short stories {Profane Emih, his first novel, appeared in 1927; numerous short stories had appeared in Scnbner^s Magazine, The Ameri- can Mercury, and others). In 1935, he had just begun to devote his energies full time to writing fiction when he was called upon to direct the WPA/FAP.-*^
ADMINISTERING THE ARTS
For the first year of its existence, the projects of Federal One led a charmed life. As "Federal" projects, they were directed from the Washington headquarters of their national directors, answering in effect only to Harry Hopkins and FDR. "Federal" projects differed from other WPA projects, which had to have a base of local support and would be subject to much more local control.
In November 1935 Federal One projects were made ex- empt from the general WPA rule that 90% of all employees be eligible for relief. Instead, the Federal One projects were required to have only 75% of their employees as relief eligible. In other WPA projects, exemptions were used to hire administrators and other specialized help. Federal One, however, often used its exemptions to hire better artists or to keep good artists once they no longer qualified for relief. Though the exemptions were eventually retracted, the grant- ing of such exemptions was one of a number of special considerations received by Federal One.
Among these special considerations. Federal One was also exempt from the usual WPA regulations concerning pay caps, working hours, and scheduling, all in the name of their nature as "professional" projects.'-^
During this first year, the administrators of Federal One, on all levels, were able to operate fairly independently from the other WPA administrators, from the Washington offices to the local offices. Due to a number of complaints from the
Introduction - xxxiii
state WPA administrators, however, this was changed in July 1936, when Jacob Baker resigned from the WPA and Federal One was placed in the newly created Division of Women's and Professionals' Project under the supervision of Ellen S. Woodward. This reorganization made the Federal One Pro- jects more acceptable to the state administrators of the WPA and made for smoother operations on all levels. ^^
FUNDING
The WPA — and thus the Federal One projects — ^was never funded by statute, but by annual appropriations acts (Emer- gency Relief Appropriations Act of 1935, 1936, etc.); for this reason it was essentially held hostage to the whims of the president and Congress and was in constant threat of termi- nation.^^
A peculiarity of the structure of Federal One was that since the projects were sponsored directly by the WPA their budgets — unlike other WPA projects that were sponsored by state, local, or other federal agencies — ^were submitted, through Harry Hopkins and Ellen Woodward, directly to the President for examination and approval. 2"*
Though the exact funding procedures for Federal One varied, it was not until 1939 that any major changes occurred. The projects were officially reorganized in that year and were required to have local sponsorship.
PURPOSES AND FUNCTIONS
The WPA/FAP rated employees (in accordance with WPA guidelines) as "Professional and Technical" (including art- ists, teachers of art, photographers, lecturers, and research workers) ; "Skilled" (same as the above, but at a lesser level of quaUty); "Intermediate" (the above, but in need of a great deal of guidance and supervision); and "Unskilled" (all others needed by the WPA/FAP, but generally not artists, e.g., messengers, gallery attendants, and handymen) .^^
Throughout the life of WPA/FAP, most workers — ^well over 65%— were "skilled" and the WPA/FAP had the high- est level of "Skilled" of Federal One.^e
Of course, the methods of classifying artists was never satisfactory and often the subject of controversy. In the end,
xxxiv The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
the c iassification of artists was defined by the Federal Art Project Manual lo be
based upon information furnished by the artists and on the qualit)' of work submitted. Major consideration should be given to professional background, experi- ence, quality of work performed, and present ability to perform work.'-'
Those in the administration, and even FDR himself, seemed to view Federal One primarily as a social service experiment in bringing art to the people. The nadonal directors and the artists themselves, however, viewed Federal One as a way to create art. This led to a number of problems in the arts projects. If art was funded only in those areas where the best (and, this being a relief project, neediest) artists were found, the projects would be concentrated in the major cities of the east and west coasts and Chicago.
On the other hand, if the money was equally allocated across the country, the number of artists able to create works of a high quality would be severely limited.
One possible solution would have been to distribute the needy artists from the major cities to those areas that were in need of professionally trained and skilled artists. This plan would have accomplished two goals; the first, to have some of the nation's best artists flung into a new environment that could stimulate their talents; and second, through contact with these mostly proven artists, men and women throughout the country would be stimulated into engendering an even better "American" art.
Two equally insurmountable problems faced this solution. The first is that by the rules of the WPA, workers could not, with few exceptions, be moved from one region of the country to another. The second problem, perhaps more difficult to solve than the first, was that most of the artists had no desire to leave the urban milieu that most of them had consciously sought.^^
This does not mean that good artists did not exist in the hinterlands or that the WPA/FAP did not try to find them. During the life of the WPA/FAP, every state had the opportu-
Introduction xxxv
nity to receive funds for art projects and WPA/FAP activities of some kind took place in each of the forty-eight states.^^
ACCOMPUSHMENTS
The public's new awareness of art, its place in everyday life, is reflected in the work produced by the painters, sculptors, muralists, and graphic artists of the WPA Federal Art Project who have brought into salience the multifarious aspects of the American scene. A richer significance has been given to the lives of those who have come closer to art through the works produced and presented by the WPA Federal Art Project and to those who have experienced the stimulation of creating it themselves .... For the first time, government patronage in art has been initiated without the binding red tape which makes some "official art" a useless, ineffective expression. Government patronage of the WPA Federal Art Project enables the artists of the country to continue the practice of their art and the development of their skill. ^^
To fulfill the promises made in the above statement, the WPA/FAP divided its activities into a number of clearly defined areas. A brief overview of the major activities and accomplishments of these areas follows.
EASEL DIVISION
Largest single employer of artists, the easel division of the WPA/FAP was responsible for the creation of oil paintings, watercolors, and gouaches.^^
The control of easel painters was one of the stickiest problems to face WPA/FAP administrators. How could any- one expect true artists to punch a clock and turn in paintings on demand? And where were the artists to work? Should they work at home in their own studios? Or should they work in some kind of central facility?
One answer was given in an early publication of the WPA/FAP:
It should not be necessary for artist to leave their work to make formal appearance before timekeepers. This
xxxvi The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
kind of interruption seriously interferes with creative work and is entirely unreliable as a check on the time the artist has actually worked.'*'
None of these questions were easily answered, and the above answer, so certain, would be changed over and over again in the coming years.
Still, in the eight years of the WPA/FAP, artists working in the easel division were able to create 108,099 oils and watercolors, a remarkable achievement. "^'^
Completed easel works were disposed of in a process called allocation. In allocating works, the WPA/FAP placed the works created for it on permanent loan to publicly supported institutions such as libraries, schools, and museums. Many of these works are still located in the institutions they were allocated to. Sadly, some institutions, considering the work to be "only WPA," discarded the works or allowed them to deteriorate.
SCULPTURE
Like artists in the easel division, sculptors on the WPA/ FAP were expected to complete works either in their own studios or in studios run by the WPA/FAP. Over the course of its history, the WPA/FAP employed about 500 sculptors.^'^
Total sculptural work completed for the WPA/FAP amounted to a total of 17,744 items.''-'' These sculpture went into public buildings, public parks, zoos, botanical gardens, and public fountains.''^
Sculpture is a much more expensive medium than easel work and this is one reason for the smaller number of artists employed and works produced. Additionally, newer, less expensive materials were often used. Though such tradi- tional materials as marble and cast bronze were used in some WPA/FAP works, there was also widespread usage of cast concrete and wood carving.
MURALS
The most picturesque and dramatic of all the projects are, of course, those devoted to murals, since they are
Introduction xxxvii
most widely seen by the general public and most widely commented upon.^^
Murals, created by the WPA/FAP for federal and quasi- public buildings, were spread throughout the nation. Though the number of murals eventually created was small in comparison to either the easel works or sculpture — 2,566 murals were completed by the end of the project^^ — their impact on the public's perception of the WPA/FAP, and indeed of all the New Deal art projects, was enormous.
WPA/FAP murals were generally quite popular with their intended public, though, as with the Section, there were disputes over subject matter and artistic technique. Still, throughout
the life of the project requests consistently outran the project's abilit)' to fulfill them, and at the close of the Federal Art Project a backlog of orders had been accumulated that would have occupied its workers for a considerable time.^^
Though accounting for only a small fragment of the entire artistic output of the WPA/FAP, the mural division will forever be remembered in the public mind as the primary achievement of the entire project.
GRAPHIC ARTS
The contributions to graphic arts by the WPA/FAP far outnumber the over 240,000 prints made from over 11,000 designs.^^ Though these figures in themselves are quite amazing, two events stand out. The first is the creation of an entirely new printing process, the carborundum print tech- nique created by Dox Thrash and others in the Philadelphia projects of the WPA/FAP. Using carborundum as a grinding agent to prepare engraving plates, the artists were able to achieve new levels of shade and tone in their prints.
The second contribution was the virtual rediscovery of the silk-screen printing process. Though the silk-screen process had been invented in the late nineteenth century, it had been little used in the creation of fine arts.
xxxviii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Anthony Velonis, who joined the WTA/FAP's poster divi- sion in 1935, made a number of technical and artistic improvements in the silk-screen process. Under his direc- tion, the Silk-screen Unit of the WPA/FAP's Graphics Divi- sion was formed in 1938. Velonis was also the author of Technique of the Silk-screen Process, a publication of the WPA/ FAP that was distributed in the thousands, promodng the technique to other ardsts and the general public.^'
PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILMS
Most photography completed for the WPA/FAP was for strictly documentary purposes. Photographers took pic- tures of WPA/FAP work being done, of the artists at work, and of teachers working with students. Literally thousands of photographs of this kind were taken, providing an invaluable record of the work and accomplishments of the project."*-
In addition to this purely documentary photography, however, there was artistic photographic work done on the WPA/FAP. Perhaps the best known, as well as the most important, was a project begun in 1935 in the New York office of the WPA/FAP.
The project, undertaken by the photographer Berenice Abbott, came to be called Changing New York. Abbott traveled throughout the city, taking pictures of immigrant neighborhoods, shop signs, docks, and many other scenes of the city that were passing away. The results of this project were exhibited in the Federal Art Gallery in New York City and the Museum of the City of New York; later, selected images from the project were published in book form. The images have had numerous showings since and stand as an important artistic portrayal of New York City in the 1930s.
In addition to these still-photography projects, the WPA/ FAP made a number of films. WPA/FAP film crews worked on a number of documentary subjects including mural and mosaic makings, as well as subjects far removed from the art world like dysentery and syphilis.'*-^
Introduction xxxix
TECHNICAL PROJECTS
The WPA/FAP worked vigorously to improve the technical side of the artistic profession. Testing paints and materials and doing other research work, the technical projects of the WPA/FAP did much to establish standards for artists' materi- als throughout the United States.
The Federal Art Project's Paint Testing and Research Laboratory in Massachusetts was jointly sponsored with Har- vard University's Fogg Art Museum. The work done by this laboratory on pigments was eventually adopted, with modifi- cation, by the Bureau of Standards.^"*
Other work on canvas adhesives was done for the WPA/ FAP in New York by Raphael Doktor and published as a popular pamphlet {Technical Problems of the Artist: Canvas Adhesives, 1939) by the WPA/FAP.
ART EXHIBITIONS
Operating under the direction of Mildred Holzhauer, art exhibitions of the WPA/FAP took a number of forms. The first was the circulation of WPA/FAP exhibitions to locations throughout the country. This program brought the work of WPA/FAP artists to the American people in department stores and hotels as well as more traditional venues such as museums, art centers, and galleries. By August of 1938,
the Federal Art Project reported that it had, since January, 1936, circulated 228 exhibitions to its arts centers and other places, had presented 1,116 individ- ual showings, and had included in these exhibits some 8,000 works of art.45
The other form of exhibition organized by the WPA/FAP were its own Federal Art Galleries. A number of Federal Art Galleries were set up, including large, active ones in Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. By far the most prominent and successful Federal Art Gallery was in New York City.
The Federal Art Gallery in New York City acted as "a show window for the numerous enterprises of the WPA Federal Art
xl The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Project.""**' Opening in December 1935, the galleiy put on forty major exhibitions in just under four years before closing in the spring of 1939. Originally located on East 38th Street, it was a sign of the galler\''s growing importance that during the summer of 1937, it moved to West 57th Street, "art gallery row," and home to the most powerful and influential art galleries in New York City."*^
Though exhibitions in such traditional modes as easel paintings, sculpture, and mural sketches were the gallery's mainstays, it also branched out and exhibited work done by children on the WPA/FAP as well as an exhibition, "Art in the Making," that explored just how the artists created works of art."*^
Unfortunately, the Federal Art Galleries ceased to operate with the reorganization of the WPA/FAP in late 1939, and many of the exhibition projects were terminated.
ART EDUCATION
The education of the American public was one of the most important goals of the organizers of the WPA/FAP. Believing that the reason Americans did not buy more art, buy more American art, or become artists was that they lacked an art experience, the WPA/FAP sought to remedy the situation in two ways.
The first was through the exposure of the public to art. This was the job of the WPA/FAP artists who, by creating art, would give the public art to see. Additionally, through its Federal Art Galleries and Community Art Centers, the WPA/ FAP would created locations in communities across the country where original works of art would be seen, in many cases for the first time.
But this was just one part of the program. The other was the instruction of hundreds of thousands of Americans, the young and the old, in creating their own art:
No phase of its work is of greater social significance than its teaching. Hundreds of highly trained teachers of art, displaced by depression economy, are holding classes in boy's clubs, girl's service leagues, in schools after hours, in churches and settlements.'*^
Introduction xli
In 1939, 19% of the employees of the WPA/FAP were involved in educational services. Many of these teachers were also artists, and through their jobs on the WPA/FAP were not only able to survive, but to impart their expertise to the next generation. ^^
THE INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN
Perhaps the most massive and ambitious undertaking of the Federal Art Project was the Index of American Design (IAD). Artists employed on the IAD, using a number of techniques but primarily watercolor, rendered a diverse number of items of folk art, crafts, and decorative art (from textiles, to wooden Indians, to silverware, to children's toys). Tagged with information about the original objects, the renderings were sent to Washington where together they constituted a record of American design for the use of craftspeople and historians.
When Holger Cahill came to head the Federal Art Project in October 1935 the ideal of collecting the documentary evidence of American design, folk art, and decorative arts found an enthusiastic and knowledgeable patron.
Cahill may rightly be called one of the first scholars of American folk art. In his early days at the Newark Museum, he organized two important shows of folk art ("American Primitives," 1930, and "American Folk Sculpture," 1931). During his career as exhibition director at the Museum of Modern Art, he prepared the book-length catalog American Folk Art (1932) to accompany the exhibition of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller's collection of folk art. His encouragement of the IAD was not surprising.
The idea of the Index of American Design cannot be claimed by any one person, of course. In addition to a number of European efforts to chronicle their nations' contributions to craft and design, the 1930s saw such Ameri- can efforts as the Denver Art Museum's recording of Native American design, the Department of Interior's Historic American Buildings Survey, and the Smithsonian Institu- tion's Historic American Merchant-Marine Survey.
xlii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
But the real seed from which the IAD grew came from Romanajavity, head of the New York Public Library's Picture Collection. In the spring of 1935, Javity. and Ruth Reeves, a textile designer and painter, discussed the need for a com- prehensive record of American design. For funding, Reeves approached Frances Pollak, head of Educational Projects for the New York City Emergency Relief Administration who saw it as the perfect solution for the relief employment of commercial artists. The idea circulated through the agencies of government relief, but without an appropriate agency to handle the project, the idea of the IAD remained in the planning stages until October 1935 and the creadon of the Federal Art Project.
Meeting on December 7 and 8, 1935, the national staff of the Federal Art Project reformulated the basic plan of the New York idea into what became the LAD. Indian arts were eliminated from the plan under the assumption that such work had been done in the past and was continuing to be carried out by ethnologists. Likewise, architecture and ma- rine engineering were left out since these were being cov- ered by the Historic American Buildings Survey and the Historic American Merchant-Marine Survey. The subject of the IAD was to be, in Holger Cahill's words, "limited to the practical, popular and folk arts of the peoples of European origin who created the material culture of this country as we know it today"^^
The IAD was based in Washington as a program of the Federal Art Project. Constance Rourke was named nadonal editor and Ruth Reeves, national co-ordinator (Adolph Cook Glassgold replaced Reeves in the spring of 1936 and was in turn replaced by Benjamin Knotts in 1940). Research staffs were set up in Washington and New York. Since the prime objective of the IAD was to record design throughout the nadon, research staffs were set up in the individual states. By the time the IAD was terminated in early 1942, thirty-five states had set up IAD projects.
By January 1936, the first Manual of the Index of American Design W2is printed. In it, the Federal Art Project outlined
Introduction xliii
the scope of the new activity, its purpose, plan of organization, methods of recording, research, classifica- tion and filing, together with specimen copies of data sheets to accompany each drawing.^^
The activity that was the IAD was carried out in the following manner: the state research staffs would make a survey of the material in local history museums and private collections, selecting objects to be recorded and verifying their authenticity. Each object was then analyzed by a re- search supervisor and such information as maker or manu- facturer of the object, materials used, owner and location of object, date of creation, place of creation, and its name were recorded on a data sheet. The object was then assigned to an artist for rendering. Though various watercolor techniques were the primary media for IAD artists, oil paintings, pen and ink, scratchboard, and (in a few instances) photography were used. The data sheets prepared earlier were then pasted to the back of the finished rendering and the complete plate sent to Washington.
Though it quickly became one of the most staunchly defended and widely praised programs of the Federal Art Project (in a review of a show of IAD plates, the reviewer noted that "no other phase of the entire Federal Art Project has engaged the unanimity of praise or has been as free from criticism as the Index of American Design, "^^) the IAD did not meet with immediate and universal acceptance. Many wondered whether the IAD could be more quickly and efficiently carried out using only photography. To this Hol- ger Cahill replied:
The camera, except in the hands of its greatest masters, cannot reveal the essential character and quality of objects as the artist can. Problems of distortion and of lighting are difficult. The camera cannot search out the forms of objects deeply undercut or modeled in high relief, match color as closely as the artist, or render the subtle interplay of form and texture which creates the characteristic beauty of so many products of early Amer-
xliv The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
ican craftsmen. Color photography approximating the qualit)' of Index drawings is an expensive process with many problems which have not been fully solved. The color photograph is perishable, while water color is one of the most durable of art media. '^
To which he added, on a more practical note, that the Federal Art Project, and thus the IAD, was primarily a relief program, the purpose of which was to create work for artists.
A second criticism came from the artists themselves. Be- cause the concept of the IAD was a faithful and exact rendering of an object, there was no room for creative expression or inventive uses of color and form. Though Cahill claimed that the artists "discovered that documentary art may become a free creative activity even within severe discipline and limitations,"^^ Elzy J. Bird of the Utah LAD perhaps gives a more accurate view^ of the artists' feelings:
When I became director of the project I had been working on an Index plate and I remember the amount of sweat that went into the finished product. Most of the artists seemed to feel as I did, that it was merely copy work and didn't give them free rein to anything creative .... I remember one artist doing a remarkable textile piece — just one. He said he'd sooner starve than do another. ^^
Fittingly, a large number of IAD plates were created by commercial artists and craftspeople — the same men and women who created the objects their descendants were now recording for the LAD. By the end of the programs, approxi- mately 800 artists had created over 15,000 plates — a figure made more impressive when one considers the amount of research that was also involved in each plate.
With the winding down of the New Deal art projects and the termination of the LAD at the onset of the American entry into the Second World War, the question arose as to the disposition of the thousands of plates created by the IAD. Holger Cahill believed that they should be made available for
Introduction xlv
study by designers and students of design and he favored the placing of the IAD in a museum setting. To this end, Cahill had custody of the IAD transferred to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in March of 1942.
Not all quarters agreed with this plan, however, and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish (who as early as November of 1940 discussed the deposit of the IAD at the Library of Congress) ^^ lobbied vigorously to have the IAD deposited in the Library of Congress. Even though the Library of Congress had at the time, and continues to have, a vast collection of art works and non-traditional library mate- rial, Cahill did not feel it was a suitable location for the IAD. Even after the transfer of the IAD to the Metropolitan, MacLeish pressed General Fleming, director of the Federal Works Agency and Cahill' s boss, to have the IAD located permanently in a national collection. Fleming eventually agreed and at the start of 1944 the IAD was transferred again to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. ^^ The IAD found a permanent home at the National Gallery and resides there today, the drawings
stored on shelves alphabetically under about 600 entries ranging from 'Advertisement for Branding Irons, Adzes, Altars, Amana, Ammunition Bags, Anchor Links, Andirons, Animals, Apple Peelers,' etc. to 'Whirligigs, Windlasses, Wreathers, Wrenches, Writing Desks, Yokes, Zoar.'^^
From its inception, Holger Cahill envisioned the IAD as a tool of the designer to be made available in schools, libraries, and museums. From the start, attempts were made to repro- duce the plates using color lithography and hand-colored linocuts and thus make them more widely available. No cost-effective method was ever realized during the life of the IAD, and it was not until 1950 when Erwin O. Christensen of the National Gallery of Art published a necessarily small selection (about 350 plates) in The Index of American Design. Grouping the plates under such colorful subjects as "Our Wide Land," "The Years Pass," and "About the House,"
xlvi The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Christensen's work drew nearly undiluted praise for itself and the IAD.
Twenty-five years later the National Gallery of Art and Chadwyck-Healey finally realized Cahill's dream by publish- ing the entire IAD collection of 15,000 plus plates on color microfiche. Edited by Sandra Shaffer Tinkham, the fiche were grouped in ten collections, including "Toys and Musi- cal Instruments," "Domestic Utensils," and "Utopian and Religious Communities" and could be acquired separately.
The collection again received nearly universal acclaim, but one review — though admitting the technical excellence of the fiche project — questioned the research value and rele- vance of the IAD in our own time, consigning the LAD to the fate of a mere historical curiosity and relic of 1930s enthusi- asm.*^*^
COMMUNITY ART CENTERS
One of the primary goals of the Federal Art Project was to reinvigorate the artistic life of all Americans. One of the "problems" seen by many administrators of the Federal Art Project was that the big cities were draining native regional America of its best talent, thus creating two problems: loss of art for the people and a lack of nativist/ regional influence on the art'sts.
The draining off of America's best talent from the native soil of the small town to the strange pavements of the big city . . . has inundated certain sections of America and left others high and dry as potential cultural wastelands.*' •
Thus, "to correct this inequal distribution of cultural advantage,"*'^ the Federal Art Project organized what it termed community art centers to provide the public with the option not only to view art in the form of locally produced and nationally organized exhibitions, but also to actively participate in crafts and the fine arts.
Beginning in January 1936, the Federal Art Project, pri- marily through the efforts of Daniel S. Defenbacher, began to open community art centers throughout the nation.
Introduction xlvii
Working in conjunction with local people, Defenbacher and the WPA/FAP had opened thirty-eight Community Art Cen- ters, mostly in the South and West, by October of 1937.^^
Perhaps the most prestigious of the community art centers was the Harlem Community Art Center which opened in November 1937. The opening ceremony was attended by Eleanor Roosevelt and hundreds of prominent artists of all races. In addition to a number of successful exhibitions, the Center was known for its art classes run by, among others, the African-American artist Gwendolyn Bennett.^^
The community art centers, though usually organized by the Federal Art Project, had to have the support of local sponsors. The local sponsors could consist of specially formed community committees or be already existing organ- izations.^^
Defenbacher and the administrators of the community art centers felt that
the aesthetic experience put in motion by the object of art is the same aesthetic experience that in varying degrees pervades a broad range of human activity. As medicine influences our diet, our clothes, and our habits, so art influences our dress, our conduct, and our environment.^^
The purpose of the FAP's community art centers was to put "art in action" so that the "average man" can recognize
the uses of art in life — as an object for aesthetic enjoy- mient and guidance; as an action for the professional, the avocationalist, the spectator, the consumer, the industrialist, and the citizen. ^^
To reach these goals, the activities in a community art center included instruction in arts and crafts, lectures (both locally organized and those arranged by state or Federal offices) , exhibitions of locally produced art as well as circulat- ing exhibitions,^^ meeting places for clubs such as "Index of American Design Discussion groups. Sketch Clubs, Junior Gallery and School Clubs, Craft Clubs of various kinds, etc."69
xlviii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
The community art center program had its share of troubles. Often, existing cultural institutions felt competi- tion from the centers, even though all attempts were made to assuage these fears. '*^ Well over a hundred community art centers were eventually created (see Appendix D for a list), mostly in the smaller towns and cities of America. The list of the locations rings with the quintessential sound of the American small town: Topeka, Sunflower County, Salem, Anderson County, Laramie, Ottumwa.
After Federal founding was cut off, many of the art centers continued to function with local support and became estab- lished and successful cultural focuses of their communities, the Sioux City Community Art Center being one of the most prominent examples that continues in existence today.
"Be it Enacted . . . .": Legislating a Permanent New Deal for the Artist
When discussing the New Deal art projects, it must be remembered that the projects were without any legislated permanence. The PWAP was from the start a purely tempo- rary project and this impermanence carried over into the Federal Art Project. Though the Section was more firmly imbedded in the Federal bureaucracy, as later events would show, the lack of any legislated niche would lead to the quick and unobstructed termination of the program.
The fiscal instability and inherently temporary nature of the projects led many in the arts to press for permanent, legislated Federal support for the art projects the govern- ment had undertaken.
A FALSE START
Congressman William L Sirovich (D-NY) was the first to attempt such legislation. On March 18, 1935, Sirovich intro- duced H.J. Res. 220, a resolution providing for the establish- ment of a "Department of Science, Art, and Literature." The resolution was in many ways a manifesto on what government
Introduction xlix
support for the arts should be. It stated that "in art there are two elements, one in which the expression sought is for beauty, irrespective of utility, and the other in which utilities are beautified. "^^ To serve these two elements of art as well as to serve the sciences, a new Federal Department would be created.
Sirovich's department would have been a cabinet level position, and in effect, the secretary of the department would become the nation's "Minister of Culture." The proposed department would take over and consolidate most of the various departments, bureaus, and offices of the Federal government dealing with the arts.
Assisting the secretary would be three undersecretaries, one each for science, art, and literature. The new depart- ment would be housed in a suitable building on Capitol Hill that would architecturally be keeping with "the beauty of art, the dignity of science, and the vision of literature. "^^
Hearings were held by the Committee on Patents (of which Sirovich was the chairman) in April and May 1935. Sirovich brought in a number of people from the arts and sciences to testif)^ in favor of the resolution. Gutzon Borglum sculptor of Mount Rushmore; Anthony J. Atchison, an artist; Edward Bruce, of the recently created Section of Painting and Sculpture; and Bruce's boss. Admiral Christian J. Peo- ples, director of the Treasury Department's Procurement Division.
Nearly everyone was strongly in support of the resolution. Borglum gave close to sixteen pages of purple prose in its favor. Bruce and Peoples were more reticent in their support, and though supporting the resolution, firmly advocated keeping the Section within the Treasury Department.
After the hearings, Sirovich's department never received any active support outside Congress — or in it for that mat- ter— and the resolution died in committee.
The time was not quite right. Soon after the hearings on the Sirovich resolution, the WPA/FAP was set up within the Works Progress Administration. The Section's program of adorning Federal buildings was functioning with great suc- cess as part of the Treasury Department. Little need was seen for Sirovich's Department.
1 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
THE FEDERAL ARTS BILL
By January 1937, the New Deal art projects had been successful for a number of years, but they were also encoun- tering a series of crises. Though the Section was experienc- ing few problems, the entire WPA was facing financial cuts. The WPA/FAP was being criticized for its supposed Left Wing ties. The time to establish the New Deal art projects as a permanent Federal presence seemed to have come.
Thus, on January 5, 1937, Sirovich again introduced a resolution (H.J. Res. 79) that would, again, attempt to create a Department of Science, Art, and Literature. H.J. Res. 79 was a word-for-word copy of Sirovich's resolution of 1935. For a second time, the resolution was sent to the Committee on Patents, and hearings were held in February 1938. Again Sirovich called on a long list of artists and celebrides for support of his proposed Department.
COFFEE AND PEPPER
By February 1938, Sirovich had some competition in establishing a national arts department. On August 16, 1937, James M. Coffee (D-WA) introduced H.R. 8239, "A Bill to Provide for a Permanent Bureau of Fine Arts."^-^ Like the earlier Sirovich resolutions, the Coffee bill was couched in terms of rhetorical eloquence:
During the entire history of our Nation and up to the time of the creation of [the Federal Arts projects], the arts were the jealously guarded possessions of the few and were not made available to the majority. Works of art were confined to privately incorporated museums, difficult to visit, and to the completely inaccessible and private collections of wealthy patrons.'^
The bill goes on for another full page or so praising the work of the Federal Arts projects (art, theatre, music, and literature) before getting down to the business of establish- ing a Bureau of Fine Arts.
Unlike Sirovich's Department of Science, Art, and Litera- ture, Coffee's bureau would be an independent bureau, and
Introduction "
not a cabinet-level position. All the duties and functions presently carried out by the WPA's Federal One would be transferred to the Bureau. Additionally, all
artists employed upon Federal projects . . . shall con- tinue in such employment without interruption under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Fine Arts. The Bureau shall immediately increase the number of artists em- ployed ... by a minimum of 20 per centum.'^^
Other sections of the bill defined the administrative na- ture of the Bureau and the tenure, vacation time, and sick leave for its artist/ employees.
The Coffee bill, as originally written, embraced fully the WPA's arts projects and received support from various artists' unions. For this very reason, criticism from the arts establish- ment—which was already dissatisfied with the WPA/FAP and the concept of Federal support for the arts— did not want to see any further promotion of the arts along the lines of the WPA's Federal One projects.
Thus, on January 21, 1938, Senator Claude Pepper (D-FL) and Congressman Coffee introduced the same bill into their respective houses of Congress — Pepper's S. 3296 and Cof- fee's H.R. 9102.
The Coffee-Pepper bill as it came to be known, was identical to Coffee's eariier bill in intent and purpose. A number of significant changes were made in the wording of the various sections to make the bill more palatable to the more conservative elements of the Congress and the arts community.
Chief amongst these changes was that the new Bureau of Fine Arts would not take a// artists employed by Federal One, but instead, the new Bureau would accept only those "who are competent to carry out the objectives of this Act."'^^ Neither would the Bureau be able to increase the number of artists employed by the WPA by 20%, but would be encour- aged to "employ as many more artists as possible in order to carry out the purposes of this Act."'^'^ Still other minor changes were made in the structure of the bureau in an attempt to conciliate those opposed to the bureau. These changes, however, served to alienate the more radical sup-
lii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
porters of the original (Coffee bill who found the Coffee- Pepper version weaker and less supportive of artists.
As in most cases, however, the middle way pleased no one, and the Coffee-Pepper bill seemed to be headed for the quiet demise that faces most legislation — death in committee. But it did not quite turn out that way.
SIROVICH'S LAST STAND
Seeing his hopes for his own Department of Science, Art and Literature fading and the Coffee-Pepper Bureau of Fine Arts suffocating from criticism from all sides, Sirovich intro- duced H.J. Res. 671 on May 4, 1938. A jury-rigged vehicle nailed together from the least objectional aspects of Si- rovich's original resolution and the Coffee-Pepper bill, H.J. Res. 671 called for the creadon of a Bureau of Fine Arts in the Department of the Interior "for the promotion of art and literature. "^^
The resoludon allowed for the transfer of ardsts from the WPA's Federal One, but only after a number of criteria had been met. Addidonal artists could be hired, but only with the authorization of the Secretary of the Interior.
On June 15, 1938, HJ. Res. 671 came to the floor of the House of Representatives. Congressman Sirovich delivered an impassioned and eloquent plea for the Bureau of Fine Arts:
There exists in our country potentialities for the devel- opment of a great culture. This is an important part of our national wealth, and it must be safeguarded and fostered. It is the function of democratic government to secure the benefits of education and cultural enlighten- ment for all the people. By so doing, it guarantees the perpetuation of democracy.^^
Unfortunately, other distinguished members of the House were more in the mood for slapstick humor than great culture. Congressman Harold Knutson informed the House that a puppeteer is one who "raises puppies;"^^ Congress- man Taylor of Tennessee added that though no specific
Introduction liii
provision had been made for Charlie McCarthy, the Congressman was confident that Charlie "is able to take care of himself and not be "dependent upon Federal charity. "^^
Congressman Dewey Short, after a long mocking mono- logue, informed the House that
Milton never wrote his Paradise Lost until he was blind. Beethoven never wrote his Moonlight Sonata until he was deaf. Mozart struggled through poverty to render his immortal masterpieces. Subsidized art is no art at all. Anyone who has ever graduated even from a grade school knows this.^^
The debate continued on for a little over an hour. Finally, it was moved that the resolution be tabled, effectively killing it. When the vote was tallied, there were 195 in favor of tabling it and 35 against. Sirovich's plans, as well as those of Congressman Coffee and Senator Pepper, had come to naught.
TWO ADDITIONAL ATTEMPTS
The year 1937 would also see two other attempts to create some type of fine arts establishment within the Federal government. On the same day that Sirovich intro- duced H.J. Res. 79, Allard H. Casque (D-SC) would intro- duce H.R. 1512, a bill to establish a National Bureau of Fine Arts in the Department of Interior, the primary duty of which would be to collect "such statistics and facts as should show the condition and progress of the fine arts and the cultural development in the several States and Territories."^^ Casque's vision for a National Bureau of Fine Arts was conceived on a small scale, with the commis- sioner of the bureau serving primarily as a presidential fact-finder.
A few months after the Casque and Sirovich bills, on August 3, 1937, James P. McGranery (D-PA) introduced H.R. 8132, a bill to establish a Division of Fine Arts in the Office of Education, Department of Interior. McGranery's Division of
liv The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Fine Arts, would, be responsible for collecting (as in Casque's bill)
statistics, data, and information, and conduct surveys and studies, relating to education in the fine arts, including music, art, and dramatic art and speech, and to disseminate such information relating thereto as will promote education in the fine arts."^
McGranery, however, was a bit more generous monetarily. His bill stated that $100,000 be authorized for the mainte- nance of the division; Casque's bill only called for $17,000 in salaries for four staff people.
Neither bill received any serious attention and both died in Committee. Though this would be Allard Casque's only entry in the arts bill derby, McCranery would try three more times with slightly modified versions of his bill.*
ONE LAST TRY
Though both Sirovich and Pepper had their plans for a Bureau of Fine Arts defeated in 1938, they both were to try one last time in 1939.
On February 3, 1939, Sirovich introduced H.J. Res. 149, a word-for-word reintroduction of H.J. Res. 671. The resolu- tion was sent to the Committee on Patents, but Sirovich's death on December 17, 1939, stopped all action on the resolution and it never left committee.
Senator Pepper introduced S. 2967 on August 5, 1939, to create a Bureau of Fine Arts. The proposed Bureau would reside in the Federal Security Agency and "establish and maintain a fine-arts program for the benefit of the people of the United States. "^^ Though the Bureau was ordered to "employ as many artists and incidental craftsmen as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act,"^^ no men- tion was made of the WPA/FAP.
*H.R. 2319, 76th (1), introduced January 11, 1939; H.R. 600, 77th (1). introduced Januarv' 1, 1941; and H.R. 900, 78th (1), introduced January 8, 1943. Like his first bill, none of these ever left committee.
Introduction *^
CONCLUSION
As the recent example of the National Endowment of the Arts has shown, governmental support for the creation of art continues to be a controversial issue, still open to charges of radicalism and triviality.
In the heated atmosphere of 1937-1938, when the very foundations of the New Deal were beginning to be chal- lenged, any attempt to make permanent the projects that were seen by many to be the essence of New Deal "boondog- gling" were sure to be met by failure.
Congressman Sirovich, from New York City and himself a playwright, failed to realize that his fellow congressmen and many citizens could not see that cultural subsidies were as important as farm subsidies.
Likewise, Congressman Coffee and Senator Pepper saw the arts ennobling the common man while at the same time glorifying the artist. It must have been quite a disappoint- ment to find the common man did not want to be ennobled and the art world was ungrateful.
With the defeat of the Fine Arts legislation of 1937-1939, the path to the eventual dissolution of the New Deal art projects was made easier and an important chapter in their history closed.
The Artist in the 1930s
THE AMERICAN MIUEU
One of the primary reasons for the creation of the New Deal art projects was the promotion and cultivation of "American" art. This same idea was regularly used to defend and expand the projects. Art critics had regularly and vigor- ously debated the notion of an "American" art since the turn of the century. Whether such a thing even existed, how best to nourish and promote it, or if it was even worth encourag- ing were popular topics in the art press. Further controversy was certain to ensue when the New Deal art projects were suddenly thrust into this already heated environment, pro-
Ivi The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
jects whose stated purpose was the glorification and funding of American art.
THE AMERICAN SCENE
An American art clearly did exist by the 1930s, and all its major themes and currents found expression — to a greater or lesser extent — in the various New Deal art projects. Two particular aspects of American art, one societal and the other aesthetic, shaped the artistic production of New Deal artists.
Though the Armory Show of 1913 had introduced Ameri- cans to "Modern" and "Abstract" art, by the 1920s, a new movement, the American Scene, had come to dominate American art. A precise definition of "American Scene" does not seem possible. To some critics the term covers only the idyllic rural works of artists like John Steuart Curry, Grant Wood, and other artists frequently labeled Regionalists. The critic Matthew Baignell, however, in his work, American Scene,^^ takes a more expansive view and includes those artists included under the rubric of Social Realists — artists such as Ben Shahn, Moses and Raphael Soyer, William Gropper, and George Biddle.
The fact that artists in the two groups often hated one another and carried on heated public debates on the merits of their own and the flaws of their opponent's works matters litde to Baignell. He emphasizes in such shared notions as the rejection of elitist attitudes toward art and the portrayal of the common man in heroic settings.^^
REGIONAUSM
Though it is reasonable to include both groups under some common term, there were extreme differences. The Regional- ists were mosdy from the Midwest and utilized a "comfed iconography and an illustrative style . . . [that] rapidly became the guilty secret of post war, jet-set aesthetics. "^^
This style, relying as it did on themes drawn from Ameri- can myths and folklore, was well suited to the goals of Edward Bruce's Section. Additionally, many of the artists, such as Curry and Thomas Hart Benton, were established artists who
Introduction Ivii
could meet the Section's stringent requirements for "qual-
* ... 9 5
ity.
SOCIAL REAUSM
The Social Realists had a much diflferent agenda as they portrayed American life. Coming from or working in an almost exclusively urban environment, Social Realists were sur- rounded by the despair of the urban poor, the jobless millions, and bread lines. Their work was affected by the Socialist and Communist ideas of left-wing thinkers of the time and inspired by the work of the modem Mexican mural painters Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera who sought to bring depictions of the underclass into their art. This commitment to radical change and leftist thought by the Social Realists was used by critics of the art projects to label the artists themselves, the WPA/FAP, and the whole idea of Federal support for the arts as "un-American."
ABSTRACT ART
Though there were always some abstract works done on the projects (particularly in the easel division of the WPA/ FAP) , only a few names stood out. Burgoyne Diller (head of the New York City mural project) , Arshile Gorky, and Stuart Davis were amongst the few major abstract painters to con- tinue their work in the face of Regionalism and Social Realism. In later years, such well-known abstract expression- ists as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko would have their roots in the WPA/FAP revealed.
By the final years of the projects, influence of both the Regionalists and the Social Realists had waned while that of exiled European artists like Andre Breton, Max Ernst, and Yves Tanguy gave a more international outlook to the Ameri- can art world and paved the way for the establishment of New York City as the post-war capital of the art world.^^
COMMUNISTS AND UNIONS
The radicalization of the American artist — most visible in the work of the Social Realists — became a major factor in the
Iviii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
life of the New Deal artist, particularly in urban centers and New York City.
Radical artists had been joining the Communist Party for years and forming their own left-wing organizations since the early 1930s. Unemployed artists in New York City began organizing in the early days of the New Deal and after a number of name changes, the Artists' Union was formed in February 1934.^'
The Artists' Union and its official organ. Art Front, had an active love-hate relationship with the New Deal art projects. Members of the Artists' Union regularly picketed, sat-in, wrote letters, and published cartoons against those who sought to cut back or eliminate the projects, particularly the WPA/FAP. At the same time they railed against real and exaggerated deficiencies and slights.
With the threat of war growing in Europe by the late 1930s, the activities of the Artists' Union and other organizations like the American Artists' Congress or publications like the New Masses were unable to hold the attention of either the public or those in power. Indeed, critics of the art projects used the left-wing activities of many of the New York-based artists to attack not only the WPA/FAP, but the entire WPA and New Deal.
Changes of a radical nature were soon coming to the New Deal art projects, but they were not the radical changes many of the artist had hoped and fought for.
1939: The World Turned Upside Down
UP TO NOW
Though the New Deal art projects had been loudly criti- cized by certain camps since their instigation, through the support and influence of those in power, they had weathered the relatively minor cutbacks and adjustments that had been made in the first years of their existence. It appeared that an active support for the arts would become a continuing, if not permanent, aspect of the Federal government.
Introduction "^^
But 1939 was not to be a good year for Federal support of the arts. The defeat of the various Federal Arts Bureau bills of the previous year meant that the projects of Federal One would continue on a year-to-year, dollar-to-dollar basis. With no permanent base of support, William I. Sirovich and Claude Pepper would again introduce bills to make the art projects permanent, but the bills would go no- where. With Sirovich's death in December 1939, support for the existing art projects, not to mention the hope for a permanent fine arts project, lost a major voice on Capitol Hill.
CHANGES ON THE HORIZON
The New Deal had already brought sweeping changes to the way the United States did business. In 1937, FDR sought to solidify these changes with a massive and radical reorgani- zation of the Federal bureaucracy. With his landslide victory in the 1936 election behind him, FDR thought he could get what he wanted. It was not to be, and a number of events, including the "Roosevelt Recession," FDR's Supreme Court-packing scheme, and vague fears in Congress of the President's growing power served to defeat the plan.
On April 3, 1939, however, a far less dramatic series of changes known as the Reorganization Plan of 1939 took effect, with a major impact on the arts projects of the Federal government.
THE FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
The reorganization plan created an entirely new Federal agency known as the Federal Works Agency (FWA). The FWA, under the leadership of John Carmody, absorbed both the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts and the entire WPA, including the Federal Art Project.
The most drastic changes occurred to the WPA. No longer an independent agency, it was now just one of many agencies within the FWA. Additionally, to reflect a growing concern over achieving tangible results for the hundreds of millions
Ix The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
of dollars being spent, the name of the WPA was changed from the Works Progress Administration to the Work Pro- jects Administration.
With FDR's close friend and advisor Harry Hopkins no longer in charge of the WPA (having left in December 1938 to become Secretaiy of Commerce) and its submersion deeper in the Federal bureaucracy, the WPA and the art projects became less visible to those in power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
EFFECTS ON THE FEDERAL ART PROJECT
The two most drastic changes to occur to the arts projects were the total elimination of the Federal Theatre Project (long the target of red-baiters and conservatives), and the elimination of Federal sponsorship of the projects of Federal One.
The provision of the Emergency Relief Act of 1939 man- dating local sponsorship of the arts projects was thought by many to be the death knell for the three remaining projects of Federal One. Though all would survive, they would be in much changed circumstances.
Again, a name change reflected the changes. The projects of Federal One were now known as the Arts Projects of the WPA, wdth the name of the sponsoring state added. Thus, in New York, the WPA/FAP now became known as the WPA Art Program/New York.*
Because the Federal government no longer provided most of the money for the art projects, the state and other funding agencies were now determining the nature of the projects.
Artists continued to be employed; in some cases total employment actually rose. Throughout the coimtry murals continued to be painted, sculptures created, and work on the LAD continued. However, the primary focus of new WPA/ FAP was in the community art centers and art education, less controversial and more easily quantifiable projects.
*This name change has lead to the present day confusion as to what to call the projects of the WTA. Following the convention established by Francis V. O'Connor, the term "WPA/FAP" is used for all the fine arts projects under the WPA and succeeding agencies, 1935-1943.
Introduction Ixi
Many artists who would later become well-known were dropped from or voluntarily left the WPA/FAP at this time. In later interviews with artists who served before and after the reorganization, the sense that things had changed for the worse was a frequently expressed sentiment.
During the period of transition, Holger Cahill was on a leave of absence from the WPA/FAP, working on the exhibi- tions of American art at the New York World's Fair. Though the national directors of the four other projects of Federal One would leave their posts permanently within months of the reorganization, Cahill would return from his sabbatical and oversee the eventual termination of the WPA/FAP.
EFFECTS ON THE SECTION OF FINE ART
At the Section, changes were much less obvious. Edward Bruce had spent much of 1938-1939 in trying to have the Section made an independent agency housed in a proposed new Smithsonian Gallery of Art. When the proposed Smith- sonian Gallery of Art became lost in the gathering war clouds, the Section had no choice but to become part of the FWA.92
Outwardly, moving the Section from the Treasury Depart- ment to the FWA appeared to have no effects. Competitions continued to be organized; murals continued to be commis- sioned and painted in Federal buildings and post offices.
The real survival of the Section, however, depended on the notion of patronage. When the Section was located in the Treasury Department, Edward Bruce could count on the artistic and political patronage of both the Treasury Secre- tary Henry Morgan thau and his wife, as well as the President. John M. Carmody, administrator of the FWA, lacked Morgan- thau's interest in art, and FDR, his time increasingly occu- pied by events in Europe, could find less and less time for his old friend Bruce's project.^^
Bruce's fear that having both the WPA/FAP and the Section in the same agency would lead to the eventual elimination of one or the other as superfluous, never came true. World War II would eventually terminate both pro- jects.^^
Ixii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
THE END
The start of the war in Europe in 19S9 had already begun to cut into Federal support for both relief and the arts. With the entiy ol the United States in late 1941, cuts to both relief and art programs accelerated. At the same time, the New Deal art projects tried to find themselves a new niche in a war environment. WPA/FAP artists were taught camouflage tech- niques, and the Section commissioned easel paintings for militan hospitals. Yet none of these attempts would stave off the fuiai termination of either project.
THE WPA/FAP
After Pearl Harbor, the survival of the V\TA itself and the art program in particular became tenuous. Between March 1942 and July 1943 (when the WPA was finally liquidated), the WPA/FAP went by a number of different names, includ- ing the Graphic Section of the War Services Division, the Graphic Section of the Division of Program Operations, and the Graphic Phase of the War Services Project.^''
Administration officials promised Congress that the WPA would be eliminated by the end of June 1943. FWA adminis- trators carried out this promise, and with the termination of the WPA, the WPA/FAP, now nearly unrecognizable, ended with it.
In those last months as the WPA/FAP quickly came to an end, administrators hastily began to allocate the remaining works at a frantic pace. By some error, hundreds of canvases stored in a warehouse in New Jersey were declared to be surplus government property and sold by the pound to a junk dealer. Among the artists included in the junk sale were Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollack.^^
THE SECTION
The Section too had been struggling because of the war. Though Edward Bruce had attempted to make his agency relevant to the war effort by conducting competitions for art to be places in military hospital and to raise funds for the Red
Introduction 1^^"
Cross, his efforts to have the Section create posters for the war effort and at enrolling the Section in the Office of Facts and Figures work of creating propaganda posters came to nothing.^^
The Section struggled along for most of 1942 and the beginning of 1943. Edward Bruce continued to fight for the Section, but it was a hopeless cause. He suffered a heart attack in 1942 and on January 27, 1943, died. With him died the Section of Fine Arts.
Documenting the New Deal Art Projects
In 1936, Audrey McMahon predicted.
Nothing is to be gained by the separate consideration of these various programs. It is safe, I believe, to prophesy that retrospectively they will be envisaged by art histori- ans as one and the same thing.^^
Though most art historians are able to distinguish between the relief projects of the WPA/FAP and the commission-driven projects of the Treasury Department, the public at large tends to lump them— plus a great deal of non-govemment-produced art of the 1930s— all together as "WPA art."
This blurring of the lines between the projects both in their own time and in our own adds to the difficulty in finding the source documents of the projects.
THE POWER OF THE MIMEOGRAPH
The alphabetical bureaus of the New Deal, and especially the art projects, utilized the mimeograph machine as at no other time in history. The use of the mimeograph freed the various agencies of the New Deal art projects from using precious funds for printing and allowed newsletters, exhibi- tion catalogs, technical circulars, summary reports, and a host of other "printed" material to flow from the offices of art project administrators and participants in a seemingly unrelenting — and untraceable — stream.
Ixiv The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Adding to the difTiculty in tracking the pubHcations is the plethora of sponsoring bodies. At various times, the Works Progress Administration; the Work Projects Administration of the Federal Works Agency; the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department; the Section of Fine Arts of first the Treasury Department and later the Federal Works Agency; the Public Works of Art Project of the Treasury Department; and various state offices of the WPA Art Program all contributed to the creation of these records.
Since many of these documents were not considered "official" government documents,
Publications prepared by this project [the Federal Art Project — though the same may be said for the Treasury Department projects] during the period of this catalog have been issued for the use of regional offices or have been sponsored and published by agencies other then Federal and therefore are not considered Government publications and are not entered in the 74th Document catalog.^^
THREE-TENTHS OF ONE PERCENT
Though the New Deal art projects made a lot of polidcal noise and created works of art that were seen by milHons, in the vast budget of the United States, they were for all intents and purposes fiscally invisible.
In 1938, for example, total expenditures for all the art programs of the WPA accounted for only 0.3% of the WPA's budget. '^*^ Comparable figures could be shown for the Treas- ury Department projects.
Thus, when seeking information on the projects in such documents as Congressional hearings, agency budgets, and legislation, the art projects are often afforded only a single line, or at most a paragraph or two.
THE ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART
Since 1962, the Archives of American Art (AAA) of the Smithsonian Institution has assiduously tracked the records of the New Deal art projects. The AAA has microfilmed the
Introduction Ixv
relevant materials in the collections of the National Archives and Records Agency and has collected the personal papers and documents of artists and administrators of the projects. The collections thus assembled by the AAA are without a doubt the starting point for any in-depth research on the New Deal Art Projects.
THE WILDERNESS YEARS
In their time, the New Deal art projects received extensive coverage from both the art press as well as the popular press. With the end of the projects, coverage naturally decreased.
Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, the projects are rarely mentioned in an art world concentrating on the latest trend, Abstract Expressionism. What coverage there is of the projects tends to dwell on the Index of American Design, particularly after the publication of Edwin O. Christensen's Index of American Design in 1950.
Small exhibitions of New Deal art were held at the Smolin Gallery in New York City in 1961 and 1962. In 1963, "The U.S. Government Art Projects: Some Distinguished Alumni" was held at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art. This show, organized by Dorothy C. Miller, Holger Cahill's widow, for the Museum of Modern Art, was the first to reintroduce the public to the New Deal art projects.
THE FLOODGATES OPEN
In 1966, Francis V. O'Connor of the University of Mary- land organized "Federal Art Patronage 1933 to 1943," at the university's art gallery. This, the first large-scale exhibition of New Deal art in nearly a quarter century, proved to be a turning point.
Soon, dissertations, thesis, monographs, articles, and exhi- bitions on the New Deal art projects were pouring forth from the nation's universities and museums.
Much of the early work on the projects concentrated on simply explaining what the projects were and what they did. Detailed explications of the bureaucracy of the projects were given and lists of artists and works compiled.
Ixvi The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
This first generation of New Deal art project scholars, though interested in the art itself, were most often con- cerned with simply telling the public that it did exist. By the early 1980s, however, a second generation of scholars began to look at New Deal art and ask what it meant. Karal Ann Marling in her book Wall to Wall America (on the Treasury Department murals) was among the first to examine the iconography of New Deal art.
With this latest scholarly advance. New Deal art now moves out of the realm of mere curiosity and can join the main- stream of American art.
Coda
On March 15, 1944, the American Artists' Professional League, long an opponent to the government's art pro- grams, gleefully proclaimed in an editorial in Art Digest, "WPA-RIP!"
The editorial came about ten months after the last of the New Deal art projects was officially terminated and just over eleven years since Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated. In his memorable inaugural address March 4, 1933, Roosevelt told Americans that
a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment .... Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achieve- ment, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.'^^
"... the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort" — the New Deal art projects cost a total of 50 million dollars over a period of nearly eleven years, an average of less
Introduction Ixvii
than 5 million dollars per year. In comparison to the expen- ditures made in other relief efforts this was a bargain.
Perhaps no Michelangelos or da Vincis were discovered by the New Deal art projects. No Sistine ceilings were created to adorn the Federal buildings in Washington or the thousands of post offices and courthouses across Amer- ica. Still, established and respected artists were given publicly visible commissions by the Federal government via the Section.
At the same time, the Federal Art Project did, in Audrey McMahon's words, "let the artist survive." Artists like Jack- son Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Berenice Abbott, Ben Shahn, Jacob Eainen, and many more later well-known and successful artists were employees of the WPA/FAP or the Section at a time when employment of any kind was hard to find.
In that time many thousands of artists were employed, many tens of thousands of works were created, a number of which even the most virulent critic must admit to be, if not the greatest expression of the creative spirit, at least a document of the creative spirit of American art at a particular time in the nation's history.
May the artist live? For a brief time, the Federal govern- ment said yes and backed that affirmative answer with Fed- eral dollars for the good of the artists and the enjoyment of the American people.
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Praeger: New York, 1974. Biddle, George. An American Artist's Story. Little, Brown, and Co.:
Boston, 1939.
Ixviii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
"Bureau of Fine Arts." Congressional Record 83 (June 15, 1938):
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"Index of Design; Exhibition at R.H. Macy's." Art Digest 12 (July 1938): 34.
Marling, Karal Ann. "Foreword," pp. vii-xiv. In Regionalist Art, Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood: A Guide to the Literature, by Mary Scholz Guedon. Scarecrow Press: Metu- chen, NJ, 1982.
McDonald, William Francis. Federal Relief Administration and the Arts: The Origins and Administrative History of the Arts Projects of the Works Progress Administration. Ohio State University Press: Columbus, 1969.
McGranery, James P. A Bill to Establish a Division of Fine Arts in the Office of Education, Department of Interior. H.R. 8132, 75th Con- gress, First Session (August 3, 1937).
Introduction Ixix
McKinzie, Richard. The New Deal for Artists. Princeton University
Press: Princeton, NJ, 1973. McMahon, Audrey. "May the Artist Live?" Parnassus (October
1933): 1-4. . "The Trend of the Government in Art" Parnassus 8 (January
1936): 3-6. Monroe, Gerald M. The Artists' Union of New York. Ed.D. disserta- tion. New York University, 1971. Morris, Richard B., ed. Great Presidential Decisions. Fawcett: New
York, 1969. Morsell, Mary. "Selected Works of PWAP Project at the Corcoran."
Art News S2 (May 5, 1934): 3, 14. O'Connor, Francis V., ed. Art for the Millions. New York Graphic
Society, Ltd.: Greenwich, CT, 1973. . Federal Support for the Visual Arts: The New Deal, Then and
Now. New York Graphic Society: New York, 1969. Pepper, Claude D. A Bill to Provide for a Bureau of Fine Arts. S. 2967,
76th Congress, First Session (August 5, 1939). Public Works of Art Project. Report of the Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury to Federal Emergency Relief Administrator. Government
Printing Office: Washington, 1934. Sirovich, William I. A Joint Resolution to Create a Bureau of Fine Arts in
the Department of Interior. H.J. Res. 671, 75th Congress, Third
Session (May 4, 1938). "Speaking of Pictures . . . This is Mural America for Rural
Americans." Life7 (December 4, 1939): 12-13, 15. Tinkham, Sandra Shaffer, ed. The Consolidated Catalog to the Index of
American Design. Somerset House: Teaneck, NJ; Chadwyck-
Healey: Cambridge, England, 1980. US Congress. House of Representatives. A Joint Resolution Providing
for the Establishment of an Executive Department to be Known as the
Department of Science, Art, and Literature. Hearings held April-May,
1935, House of Representatives, Committee on Patents. H.J. Res.
220, 74th Congress, First Session. Government Printing Office:
Washington, March 18, 1935. US Superintendent of Documents. Catalog of the Public Documents of
the 74th Congress. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1935. White, John Franklin, ed. Art in Action. American Art Centers and the
New Deal. Scarecrow Press: Metuchen, NJ, 1987. Whiting, Philippa. "Speaking About Art." American Magazine of Art
28 (April 1935): 230-33. Whitney Museum of American Art. Treasury Department Art Projects.
Sculpture and Paintings for Federal Buildings. Whitney Museum of
American Art: New York, 1936.
Ixx The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Works Progress Administration, lyivenlory. An aftpraisal of the results oj the Works Progress Administration, Washington, DC. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1938.
Notes
1. McMahon (1933), pp. 1-4.
2. Ibid., p. 4.
3. McMahon (1936), p. 3.
4. Biddle (1939), p. 268.
5. Ibid., p. 269.
6. McDonald (1969), p. 360.
7. Art Neivs (May 5, 19S4), p. \4.
8. Public Works of Art Project (1934), p. 9.
9. Whitney Museum of American Art (1936), introduction.
10. Whiting (1934), p. 569.
11. McKinzie (1973), p. 37.
12. Ibid., p. 54.
13. L?/^ (December 4, 1939), pp. 12-13, 15.
14. McKinzie (1973), p. 60.
15. McDonald (1969), p. 117.
16. Dows (1963?), pp. 20-23.
17. McDonald (1969), p. 370.
18. Federal Art Project (1936), p. 3.
19. McDonald, p. 130.
20. Cahill (1957), ff.
21. McDonald (1969), p. 184.
22. Ibid., p. 171.
23. Ibid., pp. 203-4.
24. Ibid., pp. 208-9.
25. Federal Art Project (1935), pp. 3-4.
26. McDonald (1969), p. 389.
27. Federal Art Project (1935), p. 5.
28. McDonald (1969), pp. 185-86.
29. Ibid., p. 385.
30. Federal Art Project. New Jersey (1935?), p. 7.
31. McDonald, p. 424.
32. Federal Art Project (1935), pp. 22-23.
33. McDonald, p. 105.
34. Ibid., pp. 430-31.
35. Ibid., p. 105.
36. Federal Art Project (1936?), p. 3.
Introduction Ixxi
37. Federal Art Project (1936) , p. 6.
38. McDonald, p. 105.
39. Ibid., p. 430.
40. Ibid., p. 105.
41. O'Connor (1973), p. 294.
42. McDonald, p. 458.
43. Ibid., p. 459.
44. Ibid., p. 460.
45. Ibid., p. 476.
46. Federal Art Project (1939a), p. ii.
47. Ibid., p. 3.
48. Ibid.,p.S2.
49. Federal Art Project (1939b), p. 3.
50. Ibid., p. I.
51. Christensen (1950), p. xii.
52. Ibid.
53. Art Digest 12 (July 1938), p. 34.
54. Christensen (1950), pp. xiv-xv.
55. Ibid., p. xiii.
56. Ibid., p. xiv.
57. Allyn(1982),p. 39.
58. Ibid., pp. 42-43.
59. Tinkham (1980), p. 2.
60. Ames (1982), pp. 68-69.
61. White (1987), p. 2.
62. Federal Art Project (1937), p. 1.
63. Ibid., pp. 1-2.
64. McDonald, p. 413.
65. Federal Art Project (1937), p. 6.
66. O'Connor (1973), p. 224.
67. Ibid., p. 226.
68. Federal Art Project (1937), pp. 15-16.
69. Ibid.,p.25.
70. White (1987), p. 7.
71. US Congress. House of Representatives (1935), p. 1.
72. Ibid., p. 2.
73. H.R. 8239,p. 1.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid., p. 5.
76. H.R. 9102, p. 4.
77. Ibid.
78. H.J. Res. 671, p. 1.
79. Congressional Record (June 15, 1938), p. 9,492.
80. Ibid., p. 9,496.
Ixxii The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
81. Ibid.,p.9A97.
82. Ibid.
83. H.R. 1512, p. 1.
84. H.R. 8132, pp. 1-2.
85. S.2967, p. 1.
86. Ibid., p. 3.
87. Baignell, p. 13.
88. Ibid., p. 59.
89. Marling, p. vii.
90. McKinzie, pp. 107-8.
91. Monroe, pp. 39-52.
92. McKinzie, pp. 44-45.
93. Ibid., pp. 45-46.
94. Ibid., p. 45.
95. O'Connor (1969), p. 130.
96. Newsweek (March 6, 1944), pp. 96^97.
97. McKinzie, pp. 49-50.
98. McMahon (1936), p. 3.
99. US Superintendent of Documents, p. 3,187.
100. Works Progress Administration, p. 81.
101. Morris, pp. 410-11.
1933-1934
0001 McMahon, Audrey. "May the artist live?" Parnassus 5 (October 1933): 1-4.
Calling for Federal aid to artists, McMahon outlines the steps taken in New York for artists. B/W illustrations of work done by artists in New York. Written before PWAP began.
0002 "American artists and the NRA code of fair competi- tion." Commercial Artist lb (December 1933): 249-50.
NOT SEEN.
0003 Howard, Henry T. "The Coit Memorial Tower." The
Architect and Engineer of California and the Pacific Coast States 115 (December 1933): 11-15.
NOT SEEN.
0004 "Millions for laborers, not one cent for artists." American Magazine of Art 2^ (December 1933): 521-22.
Call for relief efforts to be expanded to include artists.
0005 "CWA art project." Art Digest 8 (December 15, 1933) : 31.
American Artists Professional League's (AAPL) digest of what the CWA has planned. Includes a full outline of the basic premises of the art project.
0006 "Federal funds available to museums in new ways." Museum News 11 (December 15, 1933): 1-2.
Explanation of the ways that governmental funds will be
1
2 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
available to museums through the PWA. Includes partial text of the announcement.
0007 "Jobs for artists." Art Digest 8 (December 15, 1933): 6-7.
HariT L. Hopkins of the Federal Emergency Relief Adminis- tration (FERA) announces plans to give 2,500 artists jobs through the PWAP. Discusses the setting up of regional committees and includes comments by a number of people on the pros and cons of government involvement in the arts.
0008 "Federal art plan to pro\ide funds for needy artists." Art News 32 (December 16, 1933): 1, 3-4.
Announcement of the creation of the PWAP; the appoint- ment of Juliana Force as New York director; and lists the other regional committees being formed.
0009 "Latest data on CWA plan." Art News 32 (December 16, 1933): 10.
Latest news on the PWAP; text of remarks by: Edward Bruce, Forbes Watson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rexford G. Tugwell, Francis Henry Taylor, Homer Saint-Gaudens, and Juliana Force.
0010 "The Public Works of Art Project." Art News 32 (December 16, 1933): 10.
Editorial cautiously endorsing the PWAP. "The mere forma- tion of a Public Works of Art Project is a epoch making event in America" (reprinted in November 1977 Art News See 1439).
0011 Beer, Richard. "Voice from the country." Art News S2 (December 23, 1933): 14.
Satiric ardcle; Beer "converses" with a woman from Kansas on the idea of the PWAP, the woman feels artists should paint boxcars so people everywhere could really see the art they create.
Annotated Bibliography 3
0012 "Government and art." Art News 32 (December 23, 1933): 10.
Editorial on the PWAP; fears the effects of throwing large sums of money at artists without a good plan; feels federal money should be spent on adornment of public buildings.
0013 Morsell, Mary. "Inquiring reporter goes forth on mural interview." Art News 32 (December 23, 1933): 12.
Satiric article; Morsell asks the man on the street his response to the PWAP; tongue in cheek account as she "talks" to the New York Public Library's lions.
0014 "Row follows allotment of relief funds to painters." Newsweek 2 (December 23, 1933): 30.
Announcement of PWAP plans and how some have found that the administrators chosen are too biased towards mod- ern art.
0015 "Government aid to artists." Literary Digest 116 (De- cember 30, 1933): 22.
Brief note on the creation of the PWAP; how it will work; the formation of the regional committees; and a comment by Forbes Watson.
0016 "Jobless artists score PWA charging bias in selec- tions." ArtNews32 (December 30, 1933): 6.
Summary of New York Times account of artists accusing Juliana Force of favoritism in PWAP hiring.
MONOGRAPHS
0017 Public Works of Art Project. "Civil works administra- tion to employ artists on Public works of art." In U.S. Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Press Release no. 464. Mimeo- graphed, issued December 11, 1933. 9 pp.
NOT SEEN. CITED IN WILCOX.
4 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0018 Public Works of Art Project. "[Press release], no. 1." Mimeographed, issued December 19, 1933.
NOT SEEN. CITED IN WILCOX.
0019 Roosevelt, Franklin D. Executive Order No. 6420B. November 9, 1933.
With this Executive Order, FDR established the Federal Civil Works Administration under which the PWAP was eventually formed.
1934
0020 "Art for PWA." Architectural Forum 60 (January 1934, supplement): 24.
Announcement of the formation of the PWAP; lists members of the advisory committee.
0021 "Public Works of Art Project." Carnegie Magazine 7 (JanuaiT 1934): 245-46.
Note on the creation of the PWAP; how it v^ll work and what projects it will undertake. B/W photograph of Edward Bruce, Forbes Watson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Lawrence W. Roberts.
0022 Watson, Forbes. "The Public Works of Art Project: Federal, Republican or Democratic?" American Magazine of Art 21 (January 1934): 6-9.
Watson defends the early work of the PWAP and makes the claim that though geniuses may not be created by the truckload, a few great works of art will come from the project; includes a map of the PWAP regions. An excellent article.
0023 Watson, Forbes. "The USA challenges the artists." Parnassus 6 (January 1934): 1-2.
Forbes Watson recounts the foundation of the PWAP and his association with it; explains that it is wonderful to bring art to
Annotated Bibliography 5
the people. "We are obliged either to say that geniuses are century plants or to say that lilacs don't count. The Public Works of Art Project takes the broader point of view. It believes that the artist is not the rare blossom that blooms once in a hundred years and it also believes that the life of the spirit may quite well be carried on by men whose names will not go down permanently in history," p. 2.
0024 "CWA can aid museums." Art Digest 8 (January 1, 1934): 15.
Summary of a Museum News piece on how museums can take advantage of CWA and FERA projects.
0025 "CWA murals in Dallas." Art Digest 8 (January 1, 1934): 29.
Alexander Hogue and Jerry Bywaters collaborate on nine PWAP murals in the Dallas City Hall.
0026 "CWA project. ' ' Art Digest 8 (January 1 , 1934) : 8-9.
Summary of early PWAP work. Joseph A. Danysh of the San Francisco Argonaut discusses how the art projects are to employ artists and not to simply put them on relief. Includes a list of the official personnel (non-artists) in the sixteen regions of the project.
0027 "Edna Reindel, one of first picked by CWA." Art Digests (January 1, 1934): 19.
Edna Reindel is named as one of the first artists hired by the PWAP. B/W illustration of work by Reindel.
0028 "For living artists." Art Digest 8 (January 1, 1934) : 14.
Open letter signed by many artists and headed by Leon Kroll asking the art world to supplement the CWA project with additional funds.
0029 "Portentous project." Art Digest 8 (January 1, 1934): 3-4.
6 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Editorial praising the efforts of the government to support the arts.
0030 " [Plan of relief for unemployed artists.] " New Repub- lic 11 (January 3, 1934): 209.
Editorial praising the formation of the PWAP: "In setting up the organization through which its plan of relief for unem- ployed artists is to be carried out, the administration has acted with an intelligence unusual in governmental dealings with art and artists."
0031 "Public art project." Commonweal 19 (January 5, 1934): 257.
Note on the creation of the PWAP. "We have lately spoken from our hearts about the misanthropy and aridity that distinguishes so much of our native secular art, and we hope this trend, sometimes dubiously distinguished as 'modern,' will not characterize these works supposedly done for the public as well as the artists. Perhaps the latter with a few regular meals in prospect will see something in the American scene other than jazzmania,' unflattering likenesses of sub- way crowds already sad enough, barren-looking farms and distorted women."
0032 "New court house in New York gets first murals under CWAplan." Art News 2>2 (January 6, 1934): 17.
County Court House in New York gets first PWAP mural; the mural will be created by PWAP artists after old sketches by Attilio Pusterla recently discovered.
0033 "PWAP active in New England." Art News 32 (January 13,1934): 11.
Forty-four New England artists on PWAP payroll; list of New England regional committee.
0034 "The art project." Art Digest S (January 15, 1934): 30. Weekly column by the American Artists Professional League
Annotated Bibliography 7
(AAPL); brief summary of the PWAP and a plea to keep it free of government interference.
0035 "CWA peril." Art Digest 8 (January 15, 1934) : 6.
Junius Craven of the San Francisco News warns artists in the PWAP that they must succeed or the public will turn against them.
0036 Danysh, Joseph A. ' 'Dejected genius: American art or bust." Art Digest 8 (January 15, 1934): 7.
Summary of Danysh's article in the San Francisco Argonaut. A "creative" writing piece in dialogue form where Danysh criticizes the haste in which artists and projects were chosen in the CWA project.
0037 De Kruif, Henry. "The New Ideal." Art Digest 8 (January 15, 1934): 24.
A plea by the artist Henry De Kruif for an American art commensurate with the greatness of America. Mentions the Mexican government's art project.
0038 "Directors names for CWA art project in sixteen districts." Museum News 11 (January 15, 1934): 2.
List of the regional directors names by the PWAP.
0039 "Judgement pending." Art Digest 8 (January 15, 1934): 4, 32.
Editorial on the complaints of artists who were not selected in the first round of PWAP projects. Description of the protests by the Unemployed Artists' Association. Comments by Juliana R. Force, chairman of the New York Regional Committee.
0040 "PWA officers view one of first works done under project." Art Digest 8 (January 15, 1934): 7.
Officers of the PWAP gather around one of the first works completed under the project (an illustration of the National
8 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Archives building under consU"uction by Dorsey Doniphan). Illusuated with a photograph of the officers gathered around the work.
0041 "White Plains CWA unit." Art Digest 8 (January 15, 1934): 8.
Mrs. Chester G. Marsh, director of the Westchester Work- shop, announces the creation of a CWA unit.
0042 Bruce, Edward. "Public Works of Art Project — address by Edward Bruce." Congressional Record 78 (January 17, 1934): 765-67.
Address by Edward Bruce to the Cosmopolitan Club of Washington, DC, on the PWAP; read into the Congressional Record by Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas. Bruce describes the PWAP and reads letters from artists on the project praising what it has done for them. Bruce concludes: "If we can, through this project, develop the love and the wish for beauty, an intolerance for the ugliness in our lives and our surroundings, a demand for slum clearance, a hatred of the utter drabness of the average city and village in this country, especially in its outskirts, we may be building better than we know, not only spiritually but materially. It may form the stimulus and create a demand for an America beautiful, and such a demand is what everyone is seeking to lift us out of the depression," p. 767. NOTE: Reprinted as a separate document by the US GPO, 1934 (8 pp.).
0043 "PWAP projects in New Jersey." Art News 32 (January 20, 1934): 19.
Beatrice Winser, Chairman of the Northern New Jersey PWAP, announces committee members and list of New Jersey projects.
0044 Weaver, John Henry. "Plan for Public Works of Art." Art News 32 (January 20, 1934): 17.
Letter to the editor; Weaver, founder of Art Interests, the Artists' Cooperative, feels the public should be more in-
Annotated Bibliography 9
volved in choosing artists for PWAP; this will increase their interest in the art done.
0045 "New England quotas of employed artists has been reached." ArtNews?>2 Qanuary 27, 1934): 11.
Frances Henry Taylor announces that the New England region PWAP allotments have been filled; comments by Forbes Watson that the PWAP may be extended.
0046 "What price public art? Speculation over results." Literary Digest 1 1 7 (January 27, 1 934) : 20.
Comments by local papers (Baltimore Sun and Troy Times), Harry W. Watrous (president of the National Academy of Design), and Jo Davidson (sculptor) on the creation of the PWAP. Davidson comments on fears about an 'official art': "Official art! What was Greece, what was Egypt, what was India? Wasn't that official art? Did it matter to the artists of India that Buddha had to be pictured with definite, immuta- ble gestures?" Illustrated with a cartoon depicting the "mod- ern artist" getting all the PWAP commissions while "conser- vative artist" sits on the sidelines.
0047 Public Works of Art Project Bulletin 1 (February 1934) : 7 pp.
Edited by Ann Craton, the first of two {See 0053) PWAP Bulletins contained an introduction by Edward Bruce to the PWAP and a note by Edward Rowan.
0048 7\rmitage, Merle and Thomas Carr Howe, Jr. "Public works of art project." California Arts and Architecture 45 (February 1934): 20, 30.
Explanation of the PWAP by Armitage (regional director for Southern California) and Howe (vice-chairman, Northern California, Nevada, and Utah) ; they discuss what the PWAP will do, and what type of projects it will undertake in their respective regions. Photographs of Eleanor Roosevelt, Law- rence W. Roberts (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury), Edward Bruce, and Forbes Watson.
10 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0049 La Follette, Suzanne. "Government recognizes art." Scribner's Magazine 95 (February 1934): 131-32.
General article on government patronage of the arts, praises the formation of the PWAP. Gives a good background sketch as to the artistic reasons the PWAP was created.
0050 "Murals by the day." Arts and Decoration 40 (February 1934): 46-47.
A bit of backhanded praise of PWAP works, claiming that unlike other government commissioned art work (examples given include the high prices paid for nineteenth century murals in the Capitol) , these are so cheap, they can just be painted over if no one likes them in a few years: "If now the government sets a few thousand mural painters and easel painters and etchers of the American scene to work at $35 or $40 a week, the taxpayer will be more willing to have the space repainted if it does not stand the test of time."
0051 Rowan, Edward. "Will plumber's wages turn the trick?" American Magazine of Art 27 (February 1934): 80-83.
Primarily a list of PWAP works undertaken; includes a photograph of PWAP administrators accepting one of the first works finished.
0052 Wessels, Glenn. "Value received." Art Digest 8 (Febru- ary 1, 1934): 22.
Comments by Wessels from the San Francisco Argonaut discussing an exhibition of PWAP works at the De Young Museum (San Francisco). Claims a bright future for the project.
0053 Public Works of Art Project Bulletin 2 ( March 1 934) : 8 pp.
Edited by Ann Craton, the second of two (See 0047) PWAP Bulletin contains the text of Edward Bruce's comments at an address at the New York City Municipal Gallery and reports from the various PWAP regions.
Annotated Bibliography 11
0054 Bruce, Edward. "Implications of the Public Works of Art Project." American Magazine of Art 27 (March 1934): 113-15.
A brief history of the inception of the PWAP; Bruce praises the quality of work done under PWAP and sees it as invigorat- ing local talent and living proof of the wonders that the democratic patronage of art can accomplish.
0055 "New Jersey PWAP extends time limit for artists' work." ArtNewsS2 (March 10, 1934): 11.
Beatrice Winser of the Northern New Jersey PWAP an- nounces that employment will continue till May 1, 1934, in New Jersey.
0056 Force, Juliana R. "Art appreciation beUeved ad- vanced by CWA project." ArtNews32 (March 17, 1934): 11.
Force claims PWAP has increased art appreciation in the general public. "It will prove to the individual that all good art is not expensive, and that the average person can afford and should own works of art."
0057 "Exhibition of work by PWA artists." Minneapolis Institute of Art Bulletin 23 (March 24, 1934): 63-64.
Account of "Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors, and Sculpture by Artists Enrolled in the Public Works of Art Project" (March through August 1934) at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Includes a partial list of artists.
0058 "Prophet without honor." Art News 32 (March 24, 1934): 10.
Editorial critical of the mixing of relief and art in the PWAP; still, cautiously hopeful for the future.
0059 "PWAP artists show their work in group exhibit." Cleveland Art News 32 (March 24, 1934): n.p.
NOT SEEN.
12 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0060 "PWAP criticized in local press." Art News 32 (March 24, 1934): 10.
Report from the New York Herald Tribune critical of PWAP; includes response by Juliana Force claiming she showed no favoritism in hiring; and letter from William Zorach saying he received no money from PWAP.
0061 Eglinston, Laurie. "Whitney Museum falsely identi- fied with relief work." Art Neius 32 (March 31, 1934): 3, 19-20.
Critical of artists protesting the PWAP in front of New York
regional director Juliana Force's museum, the Whitney.
Major part of article is comments by leading figures of the art
world on PWAP; included are:
John Taylor Arms, President of the Society of Etchers;
Edward Bruce, PWAP;
Sarah E. Cowan, Secretary, American Society of Miniature Painters;
Francis S. Dixon, Secretary, Artists' Fellowship;
John Ward Dunsmore, Secretary, Artists' Federation of the City of New York;
George Pearse Ennis, AAPL;
Emily A. Frances, President of Contemporary Arts;
Anne Goldthwaite, Chairman, American Print Makers' Soci- ety;
Edith Halpert, Downtown Galleries;
Alexandrina Robertson Harris, National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors;
Selma Roller, Grand Central Art Galleries;
Leon Kroll, Chairman, American Society of Painters, Sculp- tors and Gravers;
Robert W. Macbeth, Macbeth Galleries;
Audrey McMahon, College Art Association;
Leonora Morton, Morton Galleries;
Dorothy Paris, Eighth Street Gallery;
Ernest Peixotto, President, National Society of Mural Paint- ers;
Frederic Newlin Price, Feragil Galleries;
Mary Turlay Robinson, Argent Galleries;
Annotated Bibliography 13
Manfred Schwartz, Gallery 144 West 13th Street; Harry W. Watrous, President, National Academy of Design; plus remarks from other societies too loosely organized to make a joint statement.
0062 "Artists work for the government." Studio 107 (April 1934): 221.
Brief note on the formation of the PWAP.
0063 Breeskin, Adelyn D. "Exhibition of Public works of art project for Maryland." Baltimore Museum of Art News-Record 5 (April 1934): 2.
Brief account of "Exhibition of Public Works of Art Project for Maryland" (1st three weeks in April) at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Thirty-plus artists, all from Maryland, repre- sented.
0064 Brodinsky, Ben P."CWA art brightens schools." School Arts 19 (April 1934): 160-61.
Explanation of how the PWAP has used artists for educa- tional purposes; some examples of educational projects. B/W illustrations of murals.
0065 "Public Works of Art Project. ' ' Kansas City Art Institute Bulletin (April 1934): 1-2.
Note on the purpose and functions of the PWAP; note on the exhibition of local PWAP artists' work: " [Public Works of Art Project Exhibition] " at the ICansas City Art Institute (April 1 through?, 1934).
0066 "Public Works of Art Project Exhibition." Cincinnati Museum Bulletin. 5 (April 1934): 63.
Entry in exhibition schedule noting the exhibition, "Public Works of Art Project Exhibition" would appear at the mu- seum April 13-29, 1934.
0067 Watson, Forbes. "Steady job." American Magazine of Art 27 (April 1934): 168-82.
14 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
"The government's methods of employing the American artist should be continued by artists and laymen in their future financial relationships," p. 169. Watson makes a call to private industry to stay a factor in the art world. Many B/W illustrations of works.
0068 ' Tragedy. ' ' Art Digest 8 (April 1 , 1 934) : 3-4, 1 1 .
Editorial stating that 50,000 people claim to be artists but only 1,000 to 2,000 deserve the name. Since the PWAP cannot employ them all, those dissatisfied "artists" are ruining it for the real artists. Includes the text of Juliana Force's (Chairman of the New York Regional Committee and director of the Whitney Museum) remarks on temporarily closing the WTiitney (where the PWAP New York offices were located) due to threats by artists.
0069 "Official reports on artists' relief work." Art News 32 (April?, 1934): 11, 15-16.
Selected texts of speeches by Juliana Force, Forbes Watson, John S. Ankeney, Grace Gosselin, Leon Kroll, Charles J. Kraemer, Jonas Lie, Raymond W. Houston, and Audrey McMahon given at the College Art Association meeting, March 30, 1934, on the subject, "The Community Recog- nizes the Artist."
0070 "PWAP art work recently exhibited in middle west." Art News 32 (April 14, 1934): 17.
Notice of exhibits of PWAP work at Minneapolis Institute of Arts (partial list of artists; favorable comments) ; and Kansas City Art Institute.
0071 "John Cunning discovered." Art Digest 8 (April 15, 1934): 14.
Review of a show by John Cunning at the Kleemann- Thorman Gallery (New York City) that included work he had done for the PWAP.
Annotated Bibliography 15
0072 "Let us judge the results." Art Digest 8 (April 15, 1934): 31.
Editorial by the AAPL asking for support of the PWAP (slated to close down April 28, 1934).
0073 "Showdown." Art Digest 8 (April 15, 1934) : 3-4.
Editorial apologizing for the strident tones of earlier (See 0068) editorial, "Tragedy." Includes details on how a contin- uation of the PWAP is coming up for review.
0074 "Public works of art exhibition." Minneapolis Institute of Art Bulletin 2S (April 28, 1934): 85-86.
Review/comments on "Exhibition of Paintings, Water Col- ors, and Sculpture by Artists Enrolled in the Public Works of Art Project" (March through August 1934) at the Minneapo- lis Institute of Art. Includes some comments, mostly favor- able, from visitors.
0075 Watson, Forbes. "Artist becomes a citizen." Forum 91 (May 1934): 277-79.
Essay by Watson on the nature of the PWAP, feeling that it should not be a simple relief project, but rather a project to raise the dignity of the American artist.
0076 Boswell, Peyton. "Adjudged." Art Digest 8 (May 1, 1934): 3-4.
Editorial on the exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) of PWAP art. Includes some statistics: 15,000 artworks acquired for $1,408 million; employed 3,521 artists. Feels that overall the government received a good deal.
0077 Boswell, Peyton. "A plague — " Art Digest 8 (May 1, 1934): 4, 12.
16 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Editorial apologizing further for the "Tragedy" (See 0068) editorial. Includes the full text of a "Resolution Passed by the Artists Committee of Action for the Municipal Art Gallery and Center (April 17, 1934)," condemning the Art Digest 3.nd Peyton Boswell for the "Tragedy" editorial.
0078 "PWAP wins praise at its 'preliminary' hearing in Washington." Art Digest 8 (May 1, 1934): 5-6, 32.
Edward Bruce comments on Corcoran Gallery of Art show of PWAP art. B/W illustrations of works by Gerald Foster, Xavier Gonzales (mural on which he was assisted by Rudolph Staffel and John A. Griffith), Schomer Lichtner, Malvin Gray Johnson, Dorothy Gilbert, Glenn Wessels, and Thomas Savage.
0079 Morsell, Mary. "Selected works of PWAP project at the Corcoran." Art News 32 (May 5, 1934): 3, 14.
Favorable review of "National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. "The work of many of the P.W.A.P. artists seems to show a certain psychological relief and gratitude for this opportunity to paint without the subconscious necessity of following and anticipating the latest trends in modern style," p. 14. De- tailed critiques of many of the works.
0080 "Paintings chosen by the President." Art News 32 (May 5, 1934): 17.
A list of the thirty-two PWAP works selected from the "Na- tional Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery by FDR to hang in the WTiite House.
0081 "PWAP murals to be completed." Art News 32 (May 5, 1934): 5.
Announcement by Edward Bruce that all PWAP artists work- ing on murals will be paid until the work is done, though at a reduced rate.
0082 "PWA art government officials take sides in aesthetic
war." Newsweek3 (May 5, 1934): 37-38.
Annotated Bibliography 17
Account of the struggle between Edward Bruce of the PWAP and the architects of the Post Office Building on the style of the mural to be installed. Recounts the story of Gilbert White's Agriculture Building mural and the controversy the mural's conservatism aroused. Brief mention of PWAP exhi- bition at the Corcoran Gallery.
0083 Adams, Katherine Langhorne. "Uncle Sam becomes an art patron." Literary Digest U7 (May 12, 1934): 42.
Favorable review of "National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery (DC). B/W illustration of work by Julius Bloch.
0084 " 'Beyond their intelligence.' " Art Digest 8 (May 15, 1934): 10.
Louise Pershing did a mural in the Dormont, PA, school that was so controversial that the local PTA claimed it was unfit for children. Said Pershing: "I consider it a compliment that the people of Dormont feel they cannot accept my mural. That shows it is beyond their intelligence and understanding."
0085 Boswell, Peyton. "Questionings." ArtDigestS (May 15, 1934): 3-4.
Discussion of Gilbert White's mural for the Agriculture Building and whether "Classical" representation is a valid visual vocabulary in the 20th century.
0086 "Keep PWAP alive!" ArtDigestS (May 15, 1934): 30. AAPL editorial pleading to keep the PWAP alive.
0087 "PWAP gets the credit." Art Digest 8 (May 15, 1934) : 8.
Brief notice from the Philadelphia Public Ledger th^it interest in American art has been so stimulated by the PWAP that the Philadelphia Museum of Art extended a show of American art.
0088 "PWAP vindicated." Art Digest 8 (May 15, 1934) : 7.
Summary of reviews of "National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery.
18 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0089 "Public Works of Art Project — address by Edward Bruce." Congressional Record 78 (May 22, 1934): 9227-28.
Extension of remarks by Sen. Frederic C. Walcott of Con- necticut reprints a speech by Edward Bruce to the American Association of Adult Education (May 21, 1934) that gives a general accoimt of the PWAP. NOTE: Reprinted as a sepa- rate document by the U.S. GPO, 1934 (9 pp.).
0090 Buchalter, Helen. "Uncle Sam's art show." New Re- public 79 (May 23, 1934): 43-44.
Fairly favorable, but with reservations, review of "National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery.
0091 "Art as public works: Washington exhibition." Scho- lastic 24 {May 26, 1934): 14.
Note on "National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery; mostly excerpted text from other sources by Edward Bruce and Edwin Alden Jewell of the New York Times. B/W illustrations of two murals.
0092 Biddle, George. "Art renascence under federal pa- tronage." Scribner's Magazine 95 (June 1934): 428-31.
Editorial preface includes the text of Biddle's letter to FDR, and FDR's reply. In this important article on the PWAP, Biddle describes the project, gives a brief history of art in America, and praises the Roosevelt Administration for hav- ing the courage to inidate such a program. "As long as we have a President who has recognized the necessity of art in life, and among his administradon's leaders who are intelli- gently putting that recognition into pracdce, the govern- ment has paved the way for a national revival in American art, and the artist need not feel too gloomy about the future ahead of him," p. 431.
0093 Kellogg, Florence Loeb. "Art becomes public works." Survey Graphics 23 (June 1934): 279-82.
Annotated Bibliography 19
A laudatory look back at the PWAP. Includes excerpts from comments by artists: " 'Never in my career,' to quote from one letter, 'have I experienced such a lift as I feel now in my work for the government. No newspaper criticism, however kind, no exhibition of my work, no scholarship, no patron- age, has fired me as does this project,' " p. 282. B/W illustrations of works by Millard Sheets, Julia Eckle, E. Dewey Albinson, Julius Bloch, Tyrone, and Robert Tabor.
0094 "Report of work in New Haven district of Connecti- cut. ' ' Yale Associates Bulletin 6 (June 1934): 29-3 1 .
NOT SEEN.
0094a "A referendum on the desirabihty of an under secretary of arts in the Federal government." Art Digest 8 (June 1,1934): 31.
Editorial by the AAPL on a referendum it sponsored amongst its members on a Federal bureau of art; reprints a number of comments on the proposal, including one critical of the PWAP.
0095 "Philadelphia holds museum exhibition of PWAP work." Art News 32 (June 16, 1934): 15.
Favorable review of an exhibition of forty-two PWAP works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; partial list of artists.
0096 Biddle, George. "Mural painting in America." Ameri- can Magazine of Art 27 (July 1934) : 361-71.
Biddle traces the history of mural painting, from the earliest times, in the United States, the Mexican experience, and the recent PWAP murals. B/W illustrations of classic and recent murals.
0097 "Public Works of Art Project." Cincinnati Museum Bulletin. 5 (July 1934): cover, 67-71.
Announcement that William M. Milliken has been named regional director of the PWAP for the midwest; list of other
20 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
regional directors. B/W illustrations of works by Paul Craft, Mathias J. Noheimer, and William Gebhardt.
0098 Stanley-Brown, Katherine. "Department of fine arts, USA." Forum92 (July 1934): 56-58.
Essay supporting the concept of a Department of Fine Arts; no specific reference to the PWAP, but implied.
0098a "Results of the League's referendum on the desira- bility of an under-secretarv' of fine arts in our Federal government." Art Digest 8 (July 1, 1934): 31.
Final results of the AAPL's referendum on a Bureau of Fine Arts (5^^ 0094a) . The AAPL's members came out in favor of a such a bureau; further note in article is critical of lack of support shown by the PWAP of the AAPL's activities.
0099 "Communist propaganda in three of the frescos by artists of Public Works of Art Project in the Coit Memorial Tower, San Francisco." California Atis and Architecture 46 (August 1934): 4.
Editorial claiming some of the murals in the Coit Tower are Communist propaganda; the writer feels that the artists have been given a great opportunity by the government and should be giving "loyal support to that government, do their best work for it, and thereby increase the possibility of the government's being able, through popular appeal by the people, to continue and enlarge the work it has undertaken on behalf of the artists."
0100 "Appraising the PWAP." Art Digest 8 (August 1, 1934): 30.
AAPL editorial reports that Gilbert White says that the PWAP failed to create good art. White thinks it was a bad idea of FDR to choose thirty PWAP works for the White House.
0101 Seeley, Evelyn. "Frescoed tower clangs shut amid gasps; revolutionary scenes in the Coit memorial on San
Annotated Bibliography 21
Francisco's Telegraph hill." Literary Digest 118 (August 25, 1934): 24, 31.
Good account from the time of the controversy surrounding the Leftist nature (real and imagined) of the PWAP murals done for the Coit Tower. Seeley likes the murals. Photograph of the Tower and an illustration of a mural by John Langley Howard.
0102 "Denver Art Museum notes." Western Artist 1 (Sep- tember 1934): 4.
Note that forty-seven of Lester Varian's prints of Colorado scenes done for the PWAP will be given to the Denver Art Museum.
0103 Roosevelt, Eleanor. "The new governmental interest in the arts." American Magazine of Art 27 (September 1934, supplement) : 47.
Speech by Eleanor Roosevelt at the 25th Annual Convention of the American Federation of the Arts (held in New York City, May 16, 1934). Roosevelt praises the PWAP and com- ments on the Corcoran show.
0104 Rowan, Edward B. "Art exhibits for schools." School Life20 (September 1934): 2, 9.
Rowan explains to educators how to get PWAP works for exhibition in their schools. Describes the five exhibits that the PWAP has available for circulation through the American Federation of Arts. B/W illustration of work by Nancy May- bin Ferguson.
0105 Biddle, George, et al. "Public Works of Art Project: a New Deal for the artist." American Magazine of Art 27 (Septem- ber 1934, supplement): 29-34.
Proceedings of the 25th annual convention of the American Federation of Arts. Transcriptions of sessions for Tuesday, May 15, and Wednesday, May 16, 1934, held at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC. Speakers included George Biddle,
22 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Forbes Watson, and William M. Milliken. Subject of the speakers' talks centered on the good work the PWAP was doing.
0106 "Indiana's own PWAP." Art Digest 9 (October 15, 1934): 7.
Indiana forms its own version of the PWAP with Wilbur D. Peat as chairman.
0107 "Judges fear laughter." Art Digest 9 (October 15, 1934): 20.
Two Clearwater, FL, judges ordered a mural by George Hill depicting nude bathers on a Florida beach and five other murals created under the PWAP to be removed from their courthouse.
0108 "National Art Week." ArtDigest9 (October 15, 1934): 30, 29.
AAPL editorial on its National Art Week which was praised by the PWAP.
0109 "A store's gesture." Art Digest 9 (October 15, 1934): 23.
Wanamaker's Department store organizes an art exhibition in its New York and Philadelphia stores inspired by the PWAP.
0110 "PWAP work considered in relation to Newark Mu- seum." Art News S3 (October 20, 1934): 9.
Note on the exhibition of thirty works in various media at the Newark Museum; statement by Bernice Winser on the ac- complishments of the PWAP; partial list of artists and cri- tiques of a number of the works.
0111 Comstock, Helen. "Public works of art project." Connoisseur 94 (November 1934): 334, 337.
Brief explanation and praise of the PWAP; gives some statistics.
Annotated Bibliography 23
0112 "For a federal permanent art project." Art Front 1 (November 1934): 1.
Call for a permanent federal art project; lists how Artists' Union will fight for the project.
0113 Gridley, Katherine. "If this be art." Art Front 1 (No- vember 1934): 2.
Mocking article on the New Deal and art.
0114 "Nation buys art." Arts and Decoration 42 (November 1934): 31.
Commentary on the PWAP; it did some good work, encour- aged young painters (examples include Mildred Jerome, Frank Mechau, Charles Kassler, Helen Dickson, and Millard Sheets) who painted people and landscapes.
0115 "National art exhibit." Design 36 (November 1934): 32.
Brief comments on "National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project" at the Corcoran Gallery, April 24 through May 20, 1934. Includes brief history of PWAP and text of comments by Edward Bruce.
0116 Watson, Forbes. "Innocent bystander; Museum of modern art exhibition of the work done under the Public Works of Art Project." American Magazine of Art 27 (Novem- ber 1934): 601-606.
Comments on the PWAP works on view at MOMA. Watson praises Alfred Barr for taking the show. Also includes a review of Edward Bruce's show at Milch Galleries (NYC).
0117 Whiting, F.A., Jr. "Further answer." American Maga- zine of Art 27 (November 1934): 569-70.
Editorial praising the creation of the Section.
0118 "Cost— $1,312,177. Worth???" Art Digest 9 (Novem- ber 15, 1934): 12.
24 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Statistics on the PWAP: 3,749 artists employed; $1,312,177 spent; 15,660 works created; 3,800 oil paintings; 2,900 water- colors; 1,000 etchings; and 600 sculptures.
0119 Ryder, Worth. "PWAP in Berkeley." San Francisco Art Association Bulletin 1 (December 1934): 2, 4.
Brief description of three PWAP projects in Berkeley; in- cludes biographies of the three artists (E. Sievert Weinberg, Sargent Watson, and Marian Simpson) involved.
0120 Boswell, Peyton. "Uncle Sam's Plan." Art Digest 9 (December 1, 1934): 3-4, 18.
Praise of the announcement by Edward Bruce that a Section of Painting and Sculpture will be created within the Treasury Department. Includes a list of objectives of the Section.
0121 "Bruce as painter emerges from PWAP toil." Art Digest^ (December 1, 1934): 7.
Review of show of Edward Bruce at Milch Galleries (NYC) . Bruce was an artist as well as in charge of the PWAP and the Section. B/W illustration of work by Bruce.
0122 "Murals for Los Angeles." Art Digest 9 (December 1, 1934): 29.
Nelson H. Partridge of the PWAP regional committee in California urges the formation of a California State Art Project similar to Indiana's (5^^0106). Partridge claims Los Angeles is a great place for murals.
0123 American Art Annual 31 (1934).
Overview of the year in art, covering the PWAP and Section (pp. 6-8) . Also, entry listing the staff and purpose of the Section (p. 60).
EXfflBITIONS
0124 Los Angeles Count)' Museum. The Public Works of Art Project: 14th Region — Southern California. Los Angeles County Museum: Los Angeles, 1934. 8 pp.
Annotated Bibliography 25
Exhibition, March 1934. Checkhst of 217 works in all media done by member of the 14th region of the PWAP (Southern California) . Brief text describes the purposes and functions of the PWAP. B/W cover illustration by Stanislaw Szukalski.
0125 Public Works of Art Project. National exhibition of art by the Public Works of Art Project, April 24, 1934, to May 20, 1934, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, DC, 1934. 30 pp.
Exhibition, April 24 through May 20, 1934. Catalog of 504 works in all media (murals, paintings, graphics, photo- graphs) . Foreword by Edward Bruce. Indexed by region.
0126 National Museum. Smithsonian Institution. ' ' [Exhibi- tion of the works produced in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia, Public Works of Art Project.]" Invitation card. NMAA/NPG Library VF.
Exhibition, May 6 through 13, 1934. No catalog for show.
MONOGRAPHS
0127 Alsberg, Henry G. America fights the Depression. A photographic record of the Civil Works Administration. Coward- McCann: New York, 1934. 160 pp.
Includes a section of photographs of artists at work on the art projects. Grant Wood, J.J. Greitzer, Zacrer Consulex, Mi- chael Sarisky, Andy Tsihnahjinnie, Peter Bloom, Gale Stock- well, and Maurice Glickman. Introduction by Harry L. Hopkins; includes text of executive order creating the CWA. Alsberg later became head of the FWP.
0128 Public Works of Art Project. Indiana authors; original woodblock prints. PWAP: Bloomington?, 1934?. 7 pp.
NOT SEEN. CITE IN OCLC. "Portfolio includes portraits of George Ade, Albert J. Beveridge, Theodore Dreiser, Me- redith Nicholson, James Whitcomb Riley, Booth Tarkington and Lew Wallace."
26 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0129 Public Works of Art Project. Pictures selected by the President. GPO: Washington, DC, 1934. 1 p.
NOT SEEN. CITED IN U.S. GPO, Catalog of the Public Documents of the 73rd Congress (1937).
0130 Public Works of Art Project. Regional map of the United States. PWAP: Washington, DC, 1934. 21.25 X 16 inches. Positive photostat.
NOT SEEN. CITED IN WILCOX.
0131 Public Works of Art Project. Report of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury to Federal Emergency Relief Administrator. Washington, DC, 1934. 89 pp.
Excellent resource for the study of the PWAP. Includes a list of all PWAP administrative personnel, and names and ad- dresses of PWAP artists. Includes a photograph of regional and national staff plus numerous B/W illustrations of works.
0132 Public Works of Art Project. Santa Monica Library murals. PWAP: Los Angeles, 1934. 16 pp.
Guide to the murals created in the Santa Monica Public Library by Stanton Macdonald-Wright for the PWAP. The murals were begun February 8, 1934, under the PWAP and completed August 25, 1935. B/W illustrations of the murals. Mcdonald-Wright was assisted by Henry Hibbard and Fred Bessinger, primarily with technical details (preparing can- vases, etc.).
0133 US Congress. The statutes at large of the United States of America from March 1933 to fune 1934. Vol. 48, part 1, pp. 200-10. GPO: Washington, DC, 1934.
48 Statute Chapter 90, Title II (June 16, 1933) "PubHc Works and Construction Projects" is the law under which the PWAP was put into effect. No specific mention of the PWAP.
0134 Wilcox, Jerome Kear, comp. Guide to the official publica- tions of the New Deal administrations. American Library Associa- tion: Chicago, 1934. 113 pp.
Annotated Bibliography 27
In addition to a list of the art project parent organizations, Wilcox provides brief sketches of the agencies; covers period March 1933 through April 15, 1934. NOTE: Supplement covering April 15, 1934, through December 1, 1935, issued in 1936 (183 pp.) and second supplement, covering December 1, 1935, through January 1, 1937, in 1937 (190 pp.).
1935
0135 Witte, Ernest F. "The Nebraska FERA art exhibit." Nebraska History Magazine 16 (January-March 1935): 57-60.
Account of an exhibition of PWAP work at the Nebraska State Historical Society October 4-5, 1934; includes list of twenty-eight artists and sixty works. Explains what the PWAP was about. u,
0136 "Artists' Union Federal Art Bill." Art Front 1 (January 1935): 2.
Text of a bill proposed by the Artists' Union for a Federal Art program. "It incorporates much of the PWAP on a more inclusive scale, and summarized the several plans that have been advertised from time to time by the Artists' Union."
0137 "New frescoes in the Southwest." Survey Graphic 24 (January 1935): 23-25.
Primarily B/W illustrations of murals by Victor Higgins, Emil Bisttram, Bert G. Phillips, and Ward Lockwood for the Taos County Court House, Taos, NM (a PWAP project).
0138 Watson, Forbes. "Art and government in 1934." Parnassus 1 (January 1935): 12-16.
Good account by Watson of his work with the PWAP; humor- ous at the expense of the Civil Servant. Discusses the Section and how it differs from the other art projects. B/W illustra- tions of works by Vinal Winter, Rinaldo Cuneo, Ben Knotts, Anne Guy MacCoy, Ben Shahn.
28
Annotated Bibliography 29
0139 "What now, Mr. Bruce?" Art Front I (January 1935): 3.
An article critical of Edward Bruce 's and Forbes Watson's plans for the Section.
0140 The Commercial Artists Section of the Artists' Union. "What is rock-bottom?" Art Front 1 (February 1935): 2.
Proposed program for commercial artists; support for the Federal Art bill.
0141 "H.R. 2827." Art Front 1 (February 1935): 3.
Discussion of H.R. 2827, an unemployment insurance bill; comments on Federal Art bill proposed by Artists' Union.
0142 Jourdan, Albert. "Sidelights on othergraphers and photographers." American Photography 29 (February 1935): 98-107.
Jourdan, photographer-in-chief for a PWAP region (in charge of photographing the works of art created) , makes a case for classifying photography as an art (as the "othergra- phies" of printing and drawing are arts). Includes a repro- duction of a letter from Edward Bruce to Jourdan on the art projects.
0143 "Exhibition of mural painting contrasts early style with new." Art Digests (February 15, 1935): 12.
Showing the history of wall decoration in the United States, an exhibition at the Grand Central Art Galleries (NYC) show included work by PWAP artists. The mural by PWAP artist Louis G. Ferstadt (illustrated in B/W) for the Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY, was the centerpiece of the show.
0144 "Calm after the storm." Art News 33 (February 23, 1935): 8.
30 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Editorial critique of the PWAP, particulariy the mural project; mixed encouragement of the concept of federal patronage.
0145 Alexander, Stephen. "Art: mural painting in Amer- ica." New Masses 14 (February 26, 1935): 28.
Alexander feels that there was no freedom of expression for the PWAP artists and thus they never were able to create truly revolutionary works.
0146 Burck, Jacob and Aaron Berkman. "Revolution in the art world." American Mercury M (March 1935): 332-42.
Burck argues for the proletarian art, such as was done by the PWAP and Section; Berkman is against such art.
0147 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin. Section of Painting and Sculpture 1 (March 1,1935): 10 p.
General introduction on how the Section will operate. An- nouncement of 13 competitions: Washington, DC, Post Office Building, $95,128; Washington, DC, Department of Justice, $75,000; Bridgeport, CT, Post Office, $2,120, (later won by Arthur S.
Covey and Robert Lynn Lambdin) ; Louisville, KY, Marine Hospital, $1,925 (later won by Henrik
Martin Mayer) ; Merced, CA, Post Office, $1,450 (later won by Dorothy
Puccinelli and Helen K. Forbes) ; Ravenna, OH, Post Office, $778 (later won by Clarence H.
Carter) ; Springfield, OH, Post Office, $960 (later won by H.H.
Wessel) ; Wichita, KS, Post Office, $1,880 (later won by Richard Haines
and Ward Lockwood) ; Beverly Hills, CA, Post Office, $2,980 (later won by Charies
Kassler) ; Barnesville, OH, Post Office, $1,296 (later won by Michael
Sarisky) ; Cleveland, OH, Post Office, $3,400 (later won by Jack J.
Greitzer) ;
Annotated Bibliography 31
Portsmouth, OH, Post Office, $4,158 (later won by Clarence H. Carter and Richard Zoellner);
Lynn, MA, Post Office, $3,712 (later won by William Rise- man).
0148 "Last frontier; mural panels by V. Hunter for the new courthouse at Fort Sumner." Survey Graphic 24 (April 1935): 175-77.
Primarily B/W illustrations of the mural for the Fort Sumner Court House (TX) by Vernon Hunter.
0149 Pearson, Ralph M. "Renaissance in American art." Forum93 (April 1935): 202-204.
Pearson feels that public support for the arts — particularly the New Deal projects — is leading the way in a Renaissance of American art.
0150 "Wages for artists." Art Front 1 (April 1935) : 3.
Editorial complaining of the low wages paid artists on the projects; calls for more federal aid to the arts.
0151 Whiting, Philippa. "Speaking about art." American Magazine of Art 28 (April 1935): 230-33.
Praise for the founding of the Section, covering how now the government can truly support the arts and not just provide relief: "The Government, however, answers that its artists are workers and citizens, not incompetents for whom no one but the Government itself has any use," p. 231.
0152 "U.S. projects." ArtDigest9 (April 1, 1935): 7, 29.
The Section announces jobs for decorating the Department of Justice and Post Office buildings in Washington. Expendi- ture will be $170,128 and twenty-two painters and ten sculp- tors will be chosen. The advisory committee is named. An overview of the program is included as well as a list of regional projects.
32 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0153 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin of the Section of Painting and Sculpture 2 (April 1,1935): 14 pp.
List of the winners of the Department of Justice and Post Office Buildings competitions as well as the manner in which they were selected; also includes a list of suggested topics they will work on. Announcement of ten competitions: Pittsburgh, PA, Post Office and Courthouse, $9,850 (later
won by Howard Cook, Kindred McLeary, and Stuyvesant
Van Veen); Philadelphia, PA, U.S. Custom House, $4,890 (later won by
George Harding) ; New London, CT, Post Office, $4,437 (later won by Thomas
La Farge) ; \
Hempstead, NY, Post Office, $4,425 (later won by James
Brooks) ; New Bern, NC, Courtrooms of the Post Office, $3,129 (later
won by David Silvette) ; Norristown, PA, Post Office, $1,950 (later won by Paul Mays) ; Stockton, CA, Post Office, $1,138 (later won by Frank
Bergman and Moya Del Pino) ; Newark, NJ, Post Office and Courthouse, $6,500 (for statue,
later won by Romuald Kraus) and $1,920 (for a mural,
later won by Tanner Clark) ; Chattanooga, TN, Post Office and Courthouse, $1,500 (later
won by Hilton Leech) ; Freehold, NJ, Post Office, $882 (later won by Gerald Foster) .
0154 "U.S. projects." ArtDigest9 (April 15, 1935): 16.
List of competitions opened for local art projects run by the Treasury Department.
0155 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin of the Section of Painting and Sculpture 3 (May-June 1935): 16 pp.
Reprints some of the testimony of Christian J. Peoples (Director of Procurement), Edward Bruce, and Louis A. Simon (Supervisory Architect, Department of the Treasury) before the Committee on Patents, 74th Congress, 1st Session
Annotated Bibliography 33
on the proposed Bureau of Fine Arts (5^^0213). Announce- ment of fifteen competitions: Buffalo, NY, Marine Hospital, $2,800 (later won by William B.
Rowe) ; Carthage, IL, Post Office, $470 (later won by Karl Kelpe); Dubuque, LA, Post Office, $1,925 (later won by William Bunn
and Bertrand Adams) ; East Alton, IL, Post Office, $360 (later won by Francis Foy) ; East Moline, IL, Post Office, $560 (later won by Edgar
Britton) ; Fairfield, IL, Post Office, $240 (later won by William S.
Schwartz) ; Gillespie, IL, Post Office, $320 (later won by Gustaf
Dalstrom) ; Holyoke, MA, Post Office, $2,400 (later won by Ross Mof-
fett) ; Jackson, MS, Post Office and Courthouse, $4,450 (NO
AWARD); Jeannette, PA, Post Office, $925 (later won by T. Frank
Olson) ; Melrose Park, IL, Post Office, $650 (later won by Edwin B.
Johnson) ; Mohne, IL, Post Office, $1,100 (later won by Edward Mill- man); St. Johns, OR, Post Office, $1,050 (later won by John Balla-
tor); Vandalia, IL, Post Office, $750 (later won by Aaron Bohrod).
0156 "Boon-doggling." Art Front 1 (May 1935): 3.
Editorial critical of those who call the art projects "boon- doggling."
0157 "Competition with-out pay." Art Front 1 (May 1935): 3.
Critical of Section process which forces artists to work on competition entries for which only the winners receive payment.
0158 "Nobody loves him." Art Front 1 (May 1935): 3.
34 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Highly critical article of Jonas Lie, member of Municipal Art Commission and no friend of the projects.
0159 "30,000 more jobs." Art Front 1 (May 1935): 1. Call to increase work relief for artists.
0160 Weaver, John Henry. "Practical plan for public works of art." Design 37 (May 1935): 35.
Due to the dissatisfaction expressed by PWAP artists. Weaver (founder of Art Interest, Artists' Cooperative, and the Career Clinic) suggests local jurisdictions (press, public, museums, schools, libraries, etc.) vote on the worth and value of art; he feels this will increase the public 's^nterest in art.
0160a "Art and nation; hearings on establishment of a department of science, art and literature." Art Digest 9 (May 7, 1935): 7.
Note on the hearings held on H.R. Res. 220 in Washington. (5^^0213). Reprints some of the testimony of Edward Bruce.
0160b Boswell, Peyton. "Secretary of arts." Art Digest 9 (Mayl5, 1935):3-4, 10.
Boswell editorializes in favor of H.J. Res. 220, the creation of a Department of Science, Art and Literature.
0161 "Let us work together for a division of portraiture in our federal government." Art Digests (May 15, 1935): 31.
AAPL editorial to include a portraiture division in the Section.
0162 Boswell, Peyton. "American 'Annual.' " Art Digest 9 (June 1935): 3-4.
Boswell reprints C.J. Bulliet's comments from the New York Daily News on Boswell 's article on American art from the Encyclopedia Americana Annual in which Boswell wrote exten- sively on the PWAP.
Annotated Bibliography 35
0163 "Murals, murals everywhere, for felons, students — and art critics." ArtDigest9 (June 1, 1935): 10.
Overview of the mural projects and the criticism and contro- versy they caused. B/W illustration of work by Moses Soyer.
0164 "Our government in art." Milwaukee Art Institute Bulletin^ (June 1935): 3.
Announcement of exhibition of PWAP work from nine regions, "Our Government in Art" (June 6-30, 1935). Lists two Milwaukee artists included (Peter Rotier and Richard Janson) .
0165 Sizer, T., "Art project for Connecticut." Yale Associates Bulletin^ (June 1935): 60-62.
NOT SEEN.
0165a Watson, Forbes. "The innocent bystander." Ameri- can Magazine of Art 2S (June 1935): 371-74.
Watson, himself a strong supporter of the Section and PWAP, is highly critical of H.J. Res. 220, the establishment of a Department of Science, Art and Literature; Watson fears it will regiment art.
0166 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin of the Section of Painting and Sculpture 4 (July-August 1935): 16 pp.
Statements by Edward Rowan and Olin Dows on the progress of the Section; note on the division that would become TRAP; biographies of previous competition winners Charles Kassler, Robert Lynn Lambdin, Arthur Covey, Paul Mays, Clarence H. Carter, Henrik Martin Mayer, William Riseman, and Michael Sarisky. Announcement of three main and four auxiliary competitions:
Ames, lA, Post Office, $1,300 (later won by Lowell Houser); Cresco, lA, Post Office, $500 (later won by Richard Haines); Harlan, LA, Post Office, $480 (later won by Richard Gates) ; Independence, lA, Post Office, $450 (later won by Robert Taber) ;
36 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Hagerstown, MD, Post Office, $2,700 (later won by Frank
Long); Hyattsville, MD, Post Office, $620 (later won by Eugene
Kingman) ; LaFayette, IN, Post Office and Courthouse, $700 (later won
by Hendrik Martin Mayer) .
0167 Davis, Stuart. "We reject — the art commission." Art Front 1 (July 1935): 4-5.
Davis gives a history of the Riker's Island Penitentiary (NYC) murals by Ben Shahn which the New York City Municipal Art Commission rejected because of their "psychological unfit- ness." Davis is critical of Jonas Lie, chairman of the commis- sion, a painter, and president of the National Academy of Design, calling him a "Fascist Censor." B/W illustration of Shahn 's mural.
0168 Pearson, Ralph M. "Impotent America; the trouble with the arts." Forum94 (July 1935): 34-37.
Essay explaining how anti- or unbalanced intellectualism in America has inspired poor government sponsored art; cites the Section's Post Office and Justice Department murals as examples of this poor work; includes a number of other examples from other areas of the arts.
0169 "Morals in murals." Art Front 1 (July 1935): 3.
Editorial commenting that only bad murals will meet with official approval. Ben Shahn, Lou Block, and Louis Ferstadt are listed as artists who did good work that was not liked.
0170 "$19-$94 or fight." ArtFront 1 (July 1935): 3.
Editorial commenting that artists must unionize to keep government wages at adequate levels. Brief history of relief wage scales.
0171 Bruce, Edward. "Art and democracy." Atlantic Monthly 156 (August 1935): 149-52.
Annotated Bibliography 37
An excellent statement of Bruce 's beliefs on what the govern- ment should do for art, what a democracy means to the artist, and what America means. A description of what the PWAP was and what the Section will become. "What we need is not official art, pompous art, but the fostering and cultivation throughout the country of the creative spirit which is ready to spring up everywhere," p. 152.
0172 Davis, Stuart. "The artist of today." Magazine of Art 28 (August 1935): 476-78, 506.
Overview of the work of the Artists' Union; brief comments on its relationship to the New Deal art projects.
0173 "Paint, time, and talent working." Literary Digest 120 (August 24, 1935): 22.
Account of the Section murals in New York schools. B/W illustration of mural by Eric Mose.
0173a Watson, Forbes. "Comments and criticism." Ameri- can Magazine of Art 2^ (August-September 1935): 489-91.
Watson reprints the mostly negative readers' reactions to H.J. Res. 220, a Department of Science, Art and Literature. See a/50 0165a.
0174 "With the artist." Western Artist 2 (September 1935):
7.
From Santa Fe the news is that forty-five paintings done by Navajos, Pueblos, and Kiowas were sent to the Section in Washington; from Taos, Emil Bisttram, E.L. Blumenschein, Kenneth Adams, Herbert Dunton, Victor Higgins, and Ward Lockwood are involved in Section competitions.
0175 U.S. Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin of the Section of Painting and Sculpture 5 (September 1935): 20 pp.
Statement by Edward Bruce on the Section; biographies of Jack J. Greitzer, Richard Haines, Ward Lockwood, Gerald Foster, George Harding, Richard Zoellner, Tom La Farge,
38 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
and James Brooks; instructions on how to apply for TRAP
projects. Announcement of one competition:
Summit, NJ. Post Office, $1,450 (later won by Fiske Boyd).
0176 Grafly, Dorothy. "Who is an artist?" Art Digest 9 (September 1,1935): 25.
Dorothy Grafly of the Philadelphia Inquirer claims that PWAP and other projects did not find the best people for the jobs done.
0177 Millier, Arthur. "Murals and Men." Art Digest 9 (Sep- tember 1, 1935): 6.
Arthur Millier's view of the government's murals; he gives advice to modern day muralists.
0178 "Murals, murals in every post office, but what do they express?" ArtDigest9 (September 1, 1935): 7-8.
Overview of the Section's Post Office mural projects. B/W illustrations of works by Paul Mays and Tom La Farge.
0179 "Relief for Artists." Art Digests (September 1, 1935): 11.
Announcement of the Treasury Relief Art Project. The TRAP will employ 400-500 artists. Though relief is still the major goal the TRAP will also have quality art as a motive.
0180 "Uncle Sam as a patron of the brush, lyre, pen and mask." Newsweek^ (September 21, 1935): 40.
Announces the creation of Federal One; lists the four direc- tors for FAP, FMP, FWP, FTP.
0181 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin of the Section of Painting and Sculpture 6 (October-November 1935): 16 pp.
Note on the functions of TRAP; biographies of the winners of the Post Office Building competition Stirling Calder, Arthur Lee, Berta Margoulies, Oronzio Maldarelli, Attilio Piccirilli,
Annotated Bibliography 39
Concetta Scaravaglione, Carl L. Schmitz, Sidney Waugh, Heinz Warneke, Gaetano Cecere, Alfred D. Crimi, Carl Free, Frank A. Mechau, and William C. Palmer. Announcement of one competition:
Rochester, NY. Post Office, $2,210 (later won by David Granahan) .
0182 Schwankovsky, Frederick J. "A mural in search of a wall." California Arts and Architecture 48 (October 1935): 15, 34.
History of the PWAP mural done for the Frank Wiggins Trade School, Los Angeles, in 1934 by Leo Katz. Due to the controversy surrounding the center panel which portrayed a man torn between good and a very graphic depiction of evil; ironically calls for artist to depict only what is good and ideal in life. An excellent article on the controversies that became tied up in the government work. B/W illustration of the controversial section of the rather excellent mural.
0183 "With the artist." Western Artist 2 (October 1935) : 5.
From Boulder, the University of Colorado opens an exhibi- tion of prints by PWAP artists; from Colorado Springs, Frank Mechau is placed in charge of the Section's work on govern- ment buildings in Denver.
0184 "Call for an American Artists' Congress." New Masses 17 (October 1,1935): 33.
Primarily a discussion of why an American Artists' Congress is needed; New Deal art projects are only mentioned in pass- ing.
0185 "Wright's huge mural, 200 figures, is in place." Art DigestlO (October 1, 1935): 7.
Stanton Macdonald-Wright completes a mural for the Santa Monica Library. Includes commentary on the mural and an illustration.
0186 "Federal pulmotor for the arts." Literary Digest 120 (October 12, 1935): 24.
40 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Brief account of the activities of Federal One; all four projects (FAP, FMP, FTP, and FWP) are discussed.
0187 "Federal art project is outlined in detail by its supervi- sors; with a list of the members of the national committee." Art News M (October 19, 1935): 13.
Excellent outline of the FAP as proposed by Holger Cahill and Audrey McMahon; list of national committee members.
0188 "Frank Mechau Colorado artist wins at Chicago." Western Artist 2 (November 1935): cover, 15-16.
Note that Frank Mechau has won a Section competition for the Post Office Department building in Washington. B/W illustration of work.
0189 "New federal art shown, Washington, D.C." American Magazine of Art 28 (November 1935): 690, 700-701.
Review of Treasury Department show at the Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC, October 29, 1935 ff.); includes a partial list of artists and the jury.
0190 "Watkins and Bear regional WPA art directors." Museum News 13 (November 1, 1935): 2.
C. Law Watkins and Donald Bear are named regional directors of the FAP; names of the other regional directors also given.
0191 "Artists get their own New Deal; commissions for murals and statues in new post office at Washington." Literary Digest 120 (November 2, 1935): 22.
Account of the first Section contest for the Post Office building in Washington. B/W illustrations of works by Alfred
D. Crimi, Stirling Calder, and Sidney Waugh.
0192 "Postal art test winners named." Art News 54 (Novem- ber 16, 1935): 23.
Announcement of Section winners for Post Office murals and sculpture; list of jury members.
Annotated Bibliography *1
0193 Danysh, Joseph A. "WPA assists San Francisco Art- ists." San Francisco Art Association Bulletin 2 (December 1935): 4.
Explanation of how the FAP will operate in the San Francisco area.
0194 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin of the Section of Painting and Sculpture 7 (December 1935): 18 pp.
Reprint of statement by Olin Dows to the Mural Painters Association on what the Section and TRAP are doing; list of all Post Office and Justice Department Building winners; list of fourteen TRAP projects underway with a description of the projects and a list of the artists; biographies of Dorothy Puccinelli, Helen Forbes, John R. Ballator, David Silvette, Howard Cook, Kindred McLeary, Ross Moffett,and William B. Rowe.
0195 "Federal winners." Art Digest 10 (December 1, 1935): 26.
Winners of the Post Office and Justice Department mural competitions are announced. Includes a list of the winners and jury members.
0196 Hopper, Inslee A. "America in Washington; designs to be executed under the supervision of the Section of Painting and Sculpture." American Magazine of Art 28 (De- cember 1935): 719-25.
Further review of the Corcoran Gallery show of Section mural work; very highly praised. Includes B/W illustrations of works.
0197 "Mechau mural is feature of exhibition inspired by PWAPwork." ArtDigestlO (December 1, 1935): 13.
In a group show of painters associated with the PWAP at the Midtown Galleries (NYC) through December 9, 1935, a work by Frank Mechau (illustrated) is focused on.
42 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0198 "US projects gave artists a chance to spread them- selves." Newsweek^ (December 7, 1935): 29.
Brief account of the Section, specifically Section artist Wil- liam C. Palmer ("supervising [artist] of the New York WPA project"]. Photograph of Palmer.
0199 "WPA to offer gallery tours." Art News 34 (December 7, 1935): 5.
FAP to organize a program of tours of art galleries to be called Art Gallery Tours; supervised by Lincoln Rothschild.
0200 American Art Annual "52 (1935).
"The Federal Government and Art," by F.A. Whiting (pp. 5-10) covers organization and operations of the Section and TRAP; gives a hst of projects contemplated or begun. Staff and purposes of the Treasury Department Art Project (Sec- tion and TRAP) given on p. 71.
EXfflBITIONS
0201 Public Works of Art Project. Catalog of exhibits. United States Department of Labor. Washington: GPO, 1935. 6 pp.
Exhibition, 1935?. Checklist of 150 works on loan from the PWAP to the Department of Labor; these works were shown in the PWAP's Corcoran show (5^^0125).
0202 Grand Central Art Galleries. Mural painting in Amer- ica. Grand Central Art Galleries: New York, 1935. 3 pp.
Exhibition, February 14 through 16, 1935. Checklist of works in show. Includes a selection of photographs of PWAP murals.
0203 Federal Art Gallery. Mural Sketches. 1935.
Exhibition, December 27, 1935, through January 11, 1936. No catalog. CITED IN 40 Exhibitions at the New York Federal Art Gallery, (&^0915).
Annotated Bibliography 43
MONOGRAPHS
0204 Federal Art Project. The Federal Art Project. A summary of activities and accomplishments. New York, 1935?. Mimeo- graphed. 6 11.
.A number of these "surveys" were published during the lifetime of the FAP, both by the national and regional offices. The general tone and purpose was to present an upbeat, enthusiastic endorsement of the FAP.
0205 Federal Art Project. The WPA Federal Art Project. A summary of activities and accomplishments. New York, 1935?. Mimeographed. 5 11.
A number of these "surveys" were published during the lifetime of the FAP, both by the national and regional offices. The general tone and purpose was to present an upbeat, enthusiastic endorsement of the FAP.
0206 Federal Art Project. Federal Art Project manual. Wash- ington, DC, 1935. 23 pp. mimeographed.
The perfect example of the Federal bureaucracy at work. Detailed explanation of the structure of the hierarchy of the FAP; definitions of what constitutes an art "project," defini- tions of skill levels for workers (who can be an "artist," who is a "technician," who is "unskilled"); copies of employment forms and instructions for filling out the paperwork required for timekeeping, disposal of art works, and supervision.
0207 Federal Art Project. New Jersey. The Federal Art Project in New Jersey. The WPA Federal Art Project. A summary of activities and accomplishments. Newark, 1935?. Mimeographed. 8 11.
A good review/ summary of the FAP activities in New Jersey.
0208 Miller, Dorothy Canning. "Painting and sculpture." In Collier's Yearbook 1935, pp. unknown.
NOT SEEN.
44 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0209 Public Works of Art Project. Twelve examples of Navajo weaving from drawings cut on linoleum blocks. Santa Fe, NM, 1935. 11; 12 plates.
Ruth Connely of the PWAP and the New Mexico Relief Administration did 12 linocuts to "provide colored prints for use by the United States Indian service, in encouraging a revival of the order designs in Navajo weaving, as a part of its broad program in Indian arts and crafts" [from accompany- ing mimeograph]. Each plate is dated on verso "1934." Plates 1-6 are from designs at the Laboratory of Anthropol- ogy and Indian Arts Fund in Santa Fe; Plates 7-8 are from the American Museum of Natural History (NYC); and 9-12 from private collections. In portfolio.
s_
0210 Roosevelt, Franklin D. Executive Order No. 7034. May 6, 1935.
Under the authority of the "Emergency Relief Appropria- tion Act of 1935," approved April 8, 1935 (Public Resolution No. 11, 74th Congress), FDR issued Executive Order 7034 which established the Works Progress Administration under which the FAP was created.
0211 Treasury Department. Procurement Division. Public Works branch. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Operating plan of the section of painting and sculpture. Washington, DC, 1935. Mimeographed. 2 pp.
NOT SEEN. CITED IN WILCOX.
0212 US Congress. House of Representatives. A joint resolu- tion providing for the establishment of an Executive department to be known as the Department of Science, Art, and Literature. H.J. Res. 220, 74(1), 1935. 3 pp.
Joint Resolution introduced March 18, 1935, by William I. Sirovich that would have created a Cabinet position of Secretary of Science, Art and Literature. First important attempt to make the New Deal art projects a permanent,
Annotated Bibliography *5
legislated part of government. See 0213 for hearings on the resolution. Never reached the floor.
0213 US Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on Patents. Department of Science, Art, and Literature. Hearings held April 15, 16, 23-25, May 14, 21, 1935. 74(1). GPO: Washington, DC, 1935. 404 pp.
Hearings held on H.J. Res. 220. Near universally favorable testimony for William I. Sirovich's proposed Department of Science, Art, and Literature. Those testifying from the field of fine arts were: Gutzon Borglum (sculptor, pp. 155-71); Anthony J. Atchison (painter and sculptor, pp. 198-202); Edward Bruce (pp. 21-28, 54-67; Bruce makes some interest- ing comments, though he favors the resolution, he makes it plain that the Section should not be included in the new Department); Christian J. Peoples (pp. 171-79; like Bruce, Peoples makes it clear the Section does not belong in the proposed Department) .
0214 Works Progress Administration. WP-7, August 2, 1935. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935. 1 p.
"WPA Sponsored Professional and Service Projects." This document announces the creation of the Federal One pro- jects to all state WPA administrators, signed by FWP assistant administrator. REPRINTED IN: Pt. 7, p. 6. of US Works Progress Administration. Digest of Publications Released by the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administra- tion. WPA: Washington, DC, 1936. Various pagination.
0215 Works Progress Administration. WPA-60, September 28, 1933. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935. 1 p.
"Nation-wide Arts, Music, Theatre and Writing Projects." This document announces the creation of the Federal One projects and names each unit's director to all state WPA administrators, signed by Harry L. Hopkins. REPRINTED IN: Pt. 8, p. 9. of US Works Progress Administration. Digest of
46 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Publications Released by the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration. WPA: Washington, DC, 1936. Various pagination.
0216 Works Progress Administration. Professional and Ser- vice Projects, Bulletin No. 29, September 4, 1935. WPA: Washing- ton, DC, 1935.
WPA issued bulletin defining the basic operating procedures of the Federal One projects. REPRINTED IN MCDONALD, pp. 130-31.
0217 Works Progress Administration. Letter. WPA-60. Sep- tember 29, 1935. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935.
General instructions for state WFA administrators regarding Federal One; signed Holger Cahill. REPRINTED IN MC- DONALD, pp. 131-32.
0218 Works Progress Administration. Professional and Ser- vice Projects, Bulletin No. 29, Supplement No.l, September 30, 1935. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935. 1 p.
"WPA Sponsored Federal Project No.l — ^Art, Music, The- atre, and Writing." This document announces the creation of the Federal One projects. REPRINTED IN: Pt. 3, p. 6. of US Works Progress Administration. Digest of Publications Released by the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration. WPA: Washington, DC, 1936. Various pagination.
0219 Works Progress Administration. Administrative order no.35, November 26, 1935. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935. 1 p.
"Exemptions of Certain Works from the 90% Rule." This document states: "Jacob Baker is authorized to exempt any unit of the WPA sponsored Federal Project No.l and O.P. 12-141, Treasury Relief Art Project, from the 90% rule and to permit the employment of up to 25% of the workers on such units without regard to the relief requirement." RE- PRINTED IN: Pt. 2, p. 5. of US Works Progress Administra- tion. Digest of Publications Released by the Works Progress Adminis-
Annotated Bibliography 47
tration and the National Youth Administration. WPA: Washington, DC, 1936. Various pagination.
0220 Works Progress Administration. Adjustment order no. 13, Decembers, 1935. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935. 1 p.
"Adjustment of Personnel on the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration Sponsored Federal Project No.l." This document states: "Not less than 75% of all workers on the Federal Art Project shall be taken from the public relief rolls in the states listed herein." REPRINTED IN: Pt. 1, p. 2. of US Works Progress Administration. Digest of Publications Released by the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration. WPA: Washington, DC, 1936. Various pagination.
0221 Works Progress Administration. Adjustment order no. 14, Decembers, 1933. WPA: Washington, DC, 1935. 1 p.
"Adjustment of Personnel on O.P. 12-141, Treasury Relief Art Project." This document states: "Not less than 75% of all workers on the Treasury ReUef Art Project, O.P. 12-141, shall be taken from the pubUc relief rolls. The Chief of TRAP will be responsible for keeping the records of relief and non- relief personnel of this project." REPRINTED IN: Pt. 1, p. 2. of US Works Progress Administration. Digest of Publications Released by the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration. WPA: Washington, DC, 1936. Various pagination.
1936
0222 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin. Treasury Department Art Projects 8 (Janu- ary-February 1936): 35 p.
Overview of Section accomplishments; list of thirty-seven
approved projects and thirty TRAP projects just undertaken;
amusing comments by Reginald Marsh on his work for the
Section; biographies of Edgar Britton, Moya Del Pino,
Frances Foy, and W. Vladimir Rousseff. Announcement of six
competitions:
Bronx, NY, Post Office sculpture, $7,500 (later won by Henry Kreis and Charles Rudy) ;
Washington, DC, Justice Department, Three additional mu- rals, $2,000 (later won by John R. Ballator, Emil Bisttram, and Symeon Shimin);
Iron Mountain, MI, Post Office, $620 (later won by W. Vladimir Rousseff) ;
Huntington Park, CA, Post Office, $950 (later won by Nor- man Chamberlain);
International Falls, MN, Post Office, $1,440 (later won by Lucia Wiley) ;
Hudson Falls, NY, Post Office, $710 (later won by George Picken).
0223 McMahon, Audrey. "The trend of the government in art." Parnassus d) (January 1936): 3-6.
McMahon feels that government patronage of the arts has been a good thing and hopes that the government will stay a permanent patron. An excellent article on what the projects were doing. "Nothing is to be gained by the separate consideration of these various programs. It is safe, I believe,
48
Annotated Bibliography 49
to prophesy that retrospectively they will be envisaged by art historians as one and the same thing," p. 3. B/W illustrations of works by Lucienne Bloch, Seymour Fogel, Moses Soyer, James Penney, Concetta Scaravaglione, Beniamino Bufano, Frank Mechau.
0224 "25% non-relief." Art Front 2 (Januar)^ 1936) : 4.
A cry to repeal the "pauper's oath" — the requirement that a certain percentage of FAP workers meet a relief needs test; report on the FAP's announcement raising from 10% to 25% the number of artists that must meet the relief requirements to be in program; article calls for a 100% exemption from a needs test.
0225 "Federal artists; commissions awarded to 19 sculptors and 44 painters." Art Digest 10 (January 1, 1936): 21.
Section awards commissions to nineteen sculptors and forty- four painters. List of artists and juries included.
0226 "Government buys Cassidy's 'Breaking Camp.' " Art Digest 10 (January 1, 1936): 17.
A painting by Gerald Cassidy, who died in 1934 while working for the PWAP in New Mexico, is purchased for the Department of Interior building in Washington.
0227 "WPA gallery opens." Art Digest 10 (January 1, 1936): 10.
The Federal Art Gallery of the FAP opens at 7 E. 38th Street (in mid-December) ; will show artists associated with the FAP,
0228 "Murals on view at city gallery, by artists working on the Federal Art Project since 1934." Art News 34 (January 11, 1936): 14.
Favorable review of "Mural Sketches" at the Federal Art Gallery; partial list of artists.
0229 Taylor, Francis Henry. "American artist: 1935." Atlan- tic Monthly 157 (Februar)^ 1936): 182-88.
50 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
Taylor writes on the concept of government as patron, feeling that it should do more to help the young artist; looks towards the future as a good time for the artist if the government continues its patronage so that in another dme there will have been developed a body of artists nurtured on government patronage.
0230 Clements, Grace. "Natural organization." Art Front 2 (February 1936): 2, 14-15.
Writing from Los Angeles, Clements praises the formation of the Artists' Union and hopes to do the same on the West Coast. Decries censorship in the PWAP and is critical of the needs test for artists in federal programs.
'"\
0231 "Design laboratory, New York." American Magazine of Art 29 (February 1936): 117.
Note on the Design Laboratory at 10 E. 39th Street in New York City, a program of the FAP. " 'It is a free school for instruction in industrial design, graphic arts and fine arts,' " according to Design Lab brochure.
0232 "For a permanent art project." Art Front 2 (February 1936): 3.
Editorial demanding a permanent fine arts project. "Politi- cal speeches and tram-rides are not the answer to our problem. What we want is a permanent Federal Art Project."
0233 "July 1st, 1936." ArtFront2 (February 1936): 3-4.
The title is in reference to the date the FAP was to be terminated; urges Congress to extend the FAP.
0234 Groschwitz, Gustav von. "Making prints for the U.S. government; W.P.A. graphic arts project in New York City." Prints 6 (February 1936): 135-42.
Discussion of the Graphics Division of FAP; how prints are actually made; detailed comments on the work of a number of artists. B/W illustrations of prints by Harold Le Roy
Annotated Bibliography 51
Taskey, Mabel Dwight, Albert Abramovitiz, and Albert J. Webb.
0235 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin. Treasury Department Art Projects ^ (March- April-May 1936); 24 pp.
Notes on the TRAP projects; biographies of Bertrand R. Adams, Aaron Bohrod, Fiske Boyd, William Bunn, David Granahan, Lowell Houser, H.H. Wessel, and Ray Boynton. Announcement of seven competitions: Santa Barbara, CA, Post Office sculpture, $3,900 (later won
by William Atkinson) ; Decatur, IL, Post Office, $7,050 (later won by Edgar Britton,
Mitchell Siporin, and Edward Millman); Somerville, MA, Post Office, $2,000 (later won by Ross
Moffett) ; Arlington, NJ, Post Office, $2,350 (later won by Albert
Kotin); Binghamton, NY, Post Office, $3,900 (later won by Kenneth
Washburn) ; North Philadelphia, PA, Post Office, $5,300 (later won by
George Harding) ; Petersburgh, VA, Post Office, $4,700 (later won by William
Calfee and Edwin S. Lewis) .
0236 "The public use of art." Art Front 2 (March 1936): 3-4.
Notice of the opening (in December 1935) of the Federal Art Gallery (NYC) ; urges the creation of a permanent art project.
0237 Watson, Forbes. "The return to the facts." American Magazine of Art 29 (March 1936): 146-53.
A polemic in favor of Realism and "democratic" art and against Academicism and abstract effetism; explains how the work of the PWAP, FAP, and the Section show the vigor of Realism. Watson feels the FAP art is a great improvement over work done earlier in the century. An excellent summary of the beliefs of one of the important administrators of the art projects. Many B/W illustrations of works.
52 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0238 "With the artist." Western Artist 2 (March 1936) : 17-18.
From Albuquerque, Dorothy Stewart was chosen for the FAP mural project at the Little Theatre Building in Albuquerque, assisted by Samuel Moreno; from Salt Lake City, in early March there will be an exhibition of about 20 FAP artists in the State Capitol.
0239 "Index of American Design planned by WPA." Mu- seum News 13 (March 1, 1936): 4.
Note that the FAP will begin the IAD.
0240 "Government inspiration; with colored supplement, 'Mural painting in the United i^tates.' " Time 27 (March 2, 1936): 42-43.
Overview of the mural work done under the New Deal projects; includes photographs of artists at work and a color supplement reproducing the murals of Daniel Boza, Gerald Foster, Frank Mechau, Douglas Crockwell, Kenneth Adams, and John Steuart Curry.
0241 Sayre, A.H. "Federal art project costume exhibition at R.H. Macy& Company." Art News 34 (March 7, 1936): 9.
Exhibition of costumes from all periods of American history held jointly by the FAP and Macy's Department store in New York City; costumes from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper Union, Museum of the City of New York, and the Brooklyn Museum.
0242 "WPA opens fourteen art galleries in South." Museum News 13 (March 15, 1936): 1, 4.
Note that the FAP is opening fourteen art galleries in the South; call to donate publications to these new facilities.
0243 "The 40,000 lay-off threat." Art Front 2 (April 1936): 3-4.
Critical of plans to lay off 40,000 of the WPA's workers in the New York area.
Annotated Bibliography 53
0244 Friedman, Arnold. "Government in art." Art Front 2 (April 1936): 8-10.
Paper read at the American Artists' Congress; gives history of the art projects with guarded praise.
0245 "Harlem hospital murals." ArtFront2 (April 1936): 3.
Critical of racist criticism ("Too much Negro subject mat- ter") of murals for the Harlem Hospital; urges greater presence of African-Americans in the art projects.
0246 K., J. "The project graphic show." Art Front 2 (April 1936): 12.
A highly favorable review of "Graphic Prints" at the Federal Art Gallery (NYC); includes a list of artists participating. "Out of such exhibitions will mature culture develop."
0247 "Sidney Waugh: Stage Driver, U.S.P.O. (1789-1836), detail." American Magazine of Art 29 (April 1936): cover.
Reproduction of a detail of Sidney Waugh's "Stage Driver, U.S.P.O. (1789-1836)," done for the Post Office Building, Washington, DC, for the Section.
0248 "Treasury Department." Western Artist 2 (April 1936) : 27.
Announcement of five Section competitions.
0249 "WPA art work shown in museum," El Palacio 40 (April 15, 22, 29, 1936): 92-94.
Account of exhibition of FAP work shown in the Museum of New Mexico (Santa Fe). Partial list of artists included.
0250 Danysh, Joseph A. "The Federal art project." San Francisco Art Association Bulletin 3 (May 1936): 2, 4.
Explanation of the FAP, both its creative and educational aspects, with some statistics of its implementation in the Bay Area.
54 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0251 Godsoe, Robert Ulrich. "Another project graphics show." Art Front 2 (May 1936): 15.
Favorable review of "Graphic Prints" at the Federal Art Gallery (NYC); list of artists and work.
0252 "Mass meeting." Art Front 2 (May 1936): 3.
A call for artists to fight for the preservation of the FAP.
0253 "Modern history of art." Art Front 2 (May 1936): 4.
Artists picket the FAP's NYC headquarters; highly critical of Audrey McMahon.
0254 "Towards permanent prdjects." Art Front 2 (May 1936): 5.
Editorial in favor of a federal art bill; reprints important sections.
0255 ' 'With the artist. ' ' Western Artist 2 (May 1 936) : 1 7.
From Deming (NM), Lew Tree Himmun will do a FAP mural for the WPA office in Denver; from Gallup, J.R. Willis will do a Section mural for the Gallup High School; and from Taos, Gene Kloss, Regina Tatum Cooke, Pa- trocino Barcla, and Gisella Lacher exhibit Section work at the Santa Fe museum.
0256 Angly, Edward. "Not boondoggling." Art Digest 10 (May 1,1936): 13,17.
Excerpted from the New York Herald-Tribune. Angly claims that the work done under government auspices has been good: "Unlike the amateur leaf rakers and snow shovelers and those who scrape the lateral roads of a nation in the name of work relief, a P.W.A.P job for an artists usually evokes arduous labor," p. 17.
0257 Hartmann, Sadakichi. "Misapplied relief?" Art Digest 10 (May 1,1936): 12, 28.
Annotated Bibliography 55
Essay by Hartmann expressing his belief that good art cannot be done under the circumstances that the government is commissioning it. A good analysis of the issue.
0258 "Data on projects." Art Digest 10 (May 15, 1936): 6.
Statistics on the FAP from Audrey McMahon. McMahon feels that private industry is doing little to absorb artists into the work force.
0259 Mumford, Lewis. "The art galleries." New Yorker 12 (May 16, 1936): 44.
Note on the Federal Art Gallery (NYC) and the exhibition of prints on display. "Politics aside, such an exhibition gives an answer to a question that might be asked about our artists as well as our children: why keep them alive?" p. 44.
0260 Limbach, Russell T. "Art: Artists Union convention." New Masses 19 (May 19, 1936): 28.
Brief note on the Federal Art Bureau bill in article primarily about the Artists' Union convention.
0261 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin. Treasury Department Art Projects 10 (June- July-August 1936): 20 pp.
Note on the upcoming Whitney Museum and Corcoran Gallery shows of Section work; note on the Delaware Swedish Tercentenary Commemorative Coin competition; excerpts from "Fresco Painting Today" by Lewis Rubenstein, re- printed from American Scholar; biographies of Simkha Simk- hovitch, Stuart Holmes, Charles Turzak, Henry Kreis, Char- les Rudy, Henrietta Shore, H. Louis Freund, Aldis B. Brown, Frederick A. Brunner, Walter Gardner, Tanner M. Clark, Kenneth Callahan, Glady Caldwell, Charles Campbell, Nor- man Chamberlain, Grant W. Christian, and Thomas Don- nelly. Announcement of two competitions: San Pedro, CA, Post Office, $4,900 (later won by Fletcher
Martin); Fort Scott, KS, Courthouse, $2,600 (later won by Oscar
Berninghaus) .
56 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0262 "Federal arts project holds national exhibition." Western Artist 2 Qune 1936): 16.
Favorable review of "National Exhibition. Mural Sketches, Oil Paintings, Water Colors and Graphic Arts. Federal Art Project" at the Phillips Collection (Washington, DC).
0263 Godsoe, Robert Ulrich. "Another project graphic show." Art Front 2 Qune 1936): 15.
Favorable review of FAP show "Exhibition of graphic prints, etchings, lithographs, wood cuts" at the Federal Art Gallery (NYC); includes a list of artists in show.
0264 "Mass meeting." Art Front 2 (June 1936): 3.
Editorial urging artists to unite to protest proposed FAP cuts; specifically suggests writing Congress, the press and WPA; organizing actions to expand FAP; holding a mass meeting in Madison Square; and sending a delegation to Washington.
0265 ' ' Modern art history. ' ' Art Front 2 (June 1 936) : 4.
Account of a delegation of 37 artists that went to the FAP headquarters in New York on May 13, 1936, to ask for jobs; but are turned away by Audrey McMahon. Eventually they occupied her office and had to be removed by the police.
0266 ' 'Treasury Department competitions. ' ' Western Artist 2 (June 1936): 16,23.
Announcement of six Section competitions.
0267 "With the artist." Western Artist 2 (June 1936) : 10.
From Santa Fe it is announced that Emilio Padilla has completed a wood carving for the FAP.
0268 "Organize against lay-offs." Art Front 2 Quly-August 1936): 3.
Editorial comparing FAP layoffs to Hitler's tactics; proposes plans to protest layoffs.
Annotated Bibliography 57
0269 "With the artist." Western Artist 2 (July-August 1936): 11-12, 17.
From Denver, Louis Ross has completed models of Indian houses for the Denver Museum of Art for the FAP; from Taos, Emil Bisttram wins Section mural competition; and from Cheyenne, Bob True works on FAP project for the Cheyenne High School.
0270 "Cream of Project; at the Duncan Phillips memorial gallery, Washington, DC." ArtDigestlO (July 1, 1936): 23.
Review of show at the Phillips' Collection (June 15 through July 5) of 100 FAP works selected by Duncan Phillips. Includes a partial list of artists.
0271 "Muralist! Designs invited for north Philadelphia post office." ArtDigestlO (July 1, 1936): 23.
Section mural competition announced for Philadelphia post office; list of jury members.
0272 "WPA rainbow: artists and sculptors rise from obscu- rity to Washington display." Literary Digest 122 (July 4, 1936): 23.
Highly favorable review of "National Exhibition. Mural Sketches, Oil Paintings, Water Colors and Graphic Arts" at the Phillips' Collection (June 15 through July 5) of 100 FAP works selected by Duncan Phillips. B/W illustrations of works by Samuel L. Brown and Michaell Siporin.
0273 "Two lithographs." NewMasses20 (July 7, 1936): 13.
Two lithographs by Elizabeth Olds done for the FAP ("Bro- kers," and "Miss Manchester's Musical Program for Home- less Men").
0274 Rourke, Constance. "Artists on relief." New Republic 87 (July 15, 1936): 286-88.
Rourke praises Holger Cahill and the FAP administrators he selected; she feels the FAP is destined for greatness. "A
58 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
flexible and well organized movement has been brought into existence, proceeding from a concept of art not as a posses- sion of the few but as a free impulse that should have a large and natural place in our society for pleasure and use," p. 288.
0275 Whiting, F.A. , Jr. ' 'New Horizons. ' ' American Magazine of Art 29 (August 1936): 493.
Praises the art projects and mentions "National Exhibition. Mural Sketches, Oil Paintings, Water Colors and Graphic Arts" exhibition at the Phillips' Collection; expects great things from upcoming "New Horizons" show at MOMA.
0276 "WPA takes stock at Washington; Phillips memorial gallery exhibition." American Magazine of Art 29 (August 1936): 504-506,550.
Review of "National Exhibition. Mural Sketches, Oil Paint- ings, Water Colors and Graphic Arts" at the Phillips' Collec- tion (Washington, DC); preview of MOMA "New Horizons" show. Primarily B/W illustrations of works in shows.
0277 US Treasury Department. Section of Painting and Sculpture. Bulletin. Treasury Department Art Projects 11 (Sep- tember 1936-February 1937): 19 pp.
Comments on the Corcoran and Whitney shows of Section work; text of FDR and Henry Morgan thau's remarks at the opening of the Corcoran show. Competitions announced: San Antonio, TX, Post Office, $12,000 (later won by
Howard Cook) ; Phoenix, AZ, Post Office, $6,800 (later won by LaVerne
Block and Oscar Berninghaus) ; Wilmington, DE, Post Office, $1,900 (later won by Albert Pels
and Harry Zimmerman) ; Miami, FL, Post Office, $3,800 (later won by Denman Fink in
a second competition); El Paso, TX, Court House, $3,700 (later won by Tom Lea). Biographies of Kenneth M. Adams, Conrad A. Albrizzio, Richard Brooks, William H. Calfee, Xavier Gonzales, Paul Manship, Edward Millman, Brenda Putnam, Louis Slobod- kin, Robert Tabor, and Kenneth Washburn.
Annotated Bibliography 59
0278 Noble, Elizabeth. "New horizons." Art Front 2 (Sep- tember-October 1936): 7-9.
Favorable review of "New Horizons" show at MOMA, but feels the artists need more freedom. B/W illustration of work by Karl Knaths. NOTE: "Elizabeth Noble" was the pseudo- nym used by Elizabeth McCausland when writing for Left Wing journals.
0279 "Treasury art projects exhibition at Whitney mu- seum." Western Artist 3 (September-October 1936): 15.
Review of "Treasury Department Art Projects: Sculpture and Painting" (October 6 through November 6, 1936) at the Whitney Museum.
0280 "Two Treasury mural competitions." Western Artist 3 (September-October 1936): 25.
Announcement of two Section competitions.
0281 "With the artist." Western Artist 3 (September- October 1936): 9.
From Taos, Joseph Fleck completes the Raton Post Office mural for the Section.
0282 ' 'Five more WPA art galleries in south. ' ' Museum News 14 (September 1,1936): 2.
Note that new FAP art galleries have opened in Jacksonville, FL; Miami, FL; Greenville, SC; Lynchburg, VA; and Greens- boro, NC. More are planned for Mississippi, Georgia, and Arkansas.
0283 Marshall, Margaret. "Art on relief." Nation 143 (Sep- tember 5, 1936): 271-75.
Praises the FAP for bringing real art to the average American in his/her school, home, through art education, and local museum. B/W illustrations of works by Ralph Austin, Lester O. Schwartz, Gene Kloss, Nan Lurie, John Gross-Be ttelheim.
60 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0284 "Relief work." Time28 (September 21, 1936): 42-43.
Mixed review of "New Horizons in American Art" at MOMA; finds the show to be generally mediocre, but praises Pa- trocino Barcla's (photograph of the artist) work highly, as well as that of the IAD and the children's sections.
0285 Kaufman, Sidney. "The fine arts." New Masses 20 (September 22, 1936): 29.
Notice that "New Horizons in American Art" will open at MOMA.
0286 Mumford, Lewis. "The art galleries." New Yorker 12 (September26, 1936):57.
Mumford expresses his enthusiasm for the FAP on the event of MOMA's "New Horizons in American Art" exhibition.
0287 Genauer, Emily. "New horizons in American art." Parnassus 8 (October 1936): 2-7.
A favorable review of the "New Horizons" show at MOMA that expands into a treatise on government and art. An attempt to express the "man on the street" view to art. B/W illustrations of works by Concetta Scaravaglione, Hester Miller Murray, Samuel L. Brown, Andre Rexroth, Mike Mosco, Karle Zerbe.
0288 McCausland, Elizabeth. "Lithographs to the fore." Prints 7 (October 1936): 16-30.
Overview of the lithography process; covers the contribu- tions of the FAP Graphics Division to the recent develop- ments in lithography. B/W illustration of print by Arnold Blanch.
0289 Rohde, Gilbert. "The Design Laboratory." American Magazine of Art 29 (October 1936): 638-43, 686.
Excellent account of the FAP's Design Laboratory in New York City; shows the practical side of F.\P work. Illustrated with B/W photographs of the lab and work done there.
Annotated Bibliography 61
0290 Schack, William. "Lost chapter in New York history: Blackwell survey of New York, 1860-1864." Landscape Archi- tecture27 (October 1936): 12-17.
Article on the discovery of the Blackwell plan of gardens for upper Manhattan by the Historic Gardens Unit of the IAD; B/W illustrations of the plans.
0291 "Western work praised." San Francisco Art Association Bulletins (October 1936): 5.
Ernest Peixotto, WPA administrator and muralist, on a swing through California in September, praises the work being done in California by FAP artists.
0292 Works Progress Administration. Division of Women's and Professional Services. Federal Art Project. Bi-Monthly Bulle- tin 1 (October 1, 1936). 23 pp.
Includes "Excerpts from ten reviews by leading American critics of the 'New Horizons in American Art' show at the Museum of Modern Art"; the ten critics were Lewis Mum- ford, Malcolm Vaughn, Carlyle Burrass, Melville Upton, Edward Alden Jewell, Walter Rendell Storey, H.I. Brock, Jerome Klein, William Gepmain Dooley, and Emily Genauer. NOTE: No other issues located.
0293 "Are they Bona Fide?" Art Digest 11 (October 1, 1936): 7.
Edmund H. Levy, department administrator of New York City's WPA project is appointed to determine if workers on the arts projects are qualified for the work they are doing.
0294 "Meet Uncle Sam, world's greatest collector of a nation's art." Art Digest 11 (October 1, 1936): 5-6.
A summary of reviews of "New Horizons in American Art" show at MOMA where nearly 500 FAP works were shown. B/W illustrations of works by Jack Levine, Karl Kelpe, Arnold Wiltz, Mick Arsena. Also discusses the mural project and the IAD.
62 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
0295 "Oh, Jimmy can draw! He's gonna be a artist if the WPA keeps up." Art Digest U (October 1, 1936): 7.
A cartoon by Wortman reprinted from the New York World Telegram, August 11, 1936.
0296 Davidson, Martha. "Government as a patron of art." Art News 35 (October 10, 1936): 10-12.
Reviews of "New Horizons in American Art" at MOMA, and "Treasury Department Art Projects: Sculpture and Painting" at the Whitney. Praises the "American-ness" of the works in the shows: "In both exhibitions it is evident that the roots of this new art are in its own soil," p. 12. B/W illustrations of works by Concetta Scarvaglione, John Ballatar, Alfred Crimi, Paul Cadmus, Michael Von Meyer, and Heinz Warneke.
0297 BuUiet, CJ. "Day after next: 'New Horizons in Ameri- can art' " ArtDigestU (October 15, 1936): 23.
Reprint of, and critique, of Bulliet's comments in the Chi- cago Daily News where he expresses fears that the FAP will lead to a regimentization of American art. Critical of the MOMA "New Horizons" show.
0298 "Politics prevail?" Art Digest (October 15, 1936): 13.
Glenn Wessels of the San Francisco Argonaut complains of the low salaries paid to FAP artists.
0299 "Uncle Sam faces new test of his connoisseurship in art." ArtDigestU (October 15, 1936): 9, 29.
A review of the Whitney Museum of American Art's show of works from the U.S. Treasury Department's Art Program. "Presents Uncle Sam as the discerning connoisseur rather than the benevolent patron — art for beauty, not reliefs sake." B/W illustrations of works by Reginald Marsh, William Zorach, and George Biddle.
0300 ' 'A silver lining to the depression; workers in Treasury art project refurbish federal buildings." Literary Digest 122 (October 17, 1936): 22.
Annotated Bibliography 63
Favorable review of "Treasury Department Art Projects — Sculpture and Paintings for Federal Buildings (October 10 through November 6, 1936) at the Whitney Museum. A good account of the Section is included.
0301 Binsse, Harry Lorin. "WPA art exhibit." America 56 (October 24, 1936): 71.
Mixed review of ' 'New Horizons in American Art' ' at MOMA,
0302 Kaufman, Sidney. "The fine arts." New Masses 21 (October 27, 1936) : 27-28.
In an article about Living American Artists, Inc., New York, Kaufman says, "One of the most astounding facts in the current political campaign is the failure of Landon to jibe at W.P.A. support of artists: less than thirty years ago an admin- istration that thought artists needed to live would have been laughed out of office."
0303 Tsis.' "The U.S. Federal art project." Builder 151 (October 30, 1936): 823.
Comments on the government art projects from a British point of view. The pseudonymous author feels that the aesthetic and relief goals of the projects are antagonistic, but praises the educational aspects of the FAP and comments on the possible applications in Britain; he also feels that the FAP administration is too reactionary. "The failure in democracy to-day is that it despises what it cannot understand, and values only at is own level. It has not that wider sense of responsibility to value what is above itself. And the danger in the Federal Relief Scheme is that without this understanding it may be captured by the wrong people."
0304 Benson, E.M. "Art on parole." American Magazine of Art 29 (November 1936): 709, 770.
Benson is critical of some of the mediocrity he's seen in mural projects (too many Pony Express riders and back- woodsmen "emasculate" the spirit of American art), still he feels hopeful for the future of the FAP. Includes a list of
64 The New Deal Fine Arts Projects
artists Benson feels are doing good work. An excellent critique of the projects. Illustrated with many B/W photo- graphs of works.
0305 Noble, Elizabeth. "Official art." Art Front 2 (Novem- ber 1936): 8-10.
Review of "Treasury Department Art Projects — Sculpture and Paindngs for Federal Buildings" at the Whitney Museum (NYC); critical of work, feels it to be retrogressive. NOTE: "Elizabeth Noble" was the pseudonym used by Elizabeth McCausland when writing for Left Wing journals.
0306 Breuning, Margaret. "Exhibition consisting of work executed under the Treasury Qepartment art projects." Parnassus 8 (November 1936): 25-27.
Review of "Treasury Department Art Projects — Sculpture and Paintings for Federal Buildings" at the Whitney Mu- seum, enjoys the social realism of the works. B/W illustra- tions of work by Helen Sardeau.
0307 "Owned by the United States government." Survey Graphic2b (November 1936): 616-17.
Primarily B/W illustrations of FAP works by Gregario Prestopirio, Jack Greitzer, Samuel J. Brown, Raymond Bre- inin, and Ralf Henricksen.
0308 "Sculpture and paintings for federal buildings; exhi- bition at Whitney Museum of American Art." Pencil Points 17 (November 1936): 623-32, 638.
Descriptive article, mostly B/W illustrations of works, of "Treasury Department Art Projects — Sculpture and Paint- ings for Federal Buildings," at Whitney Museum,
0309 "Voice of art; provisions of a bill providing for a Federal Bureau of Fine Arts, prepared for presentation to Congress." ArtDigestll (November 15, 1936): 6, 15.
Summary of the Fine Arts Bureau bill prepared by the Artists' Congress of Chicago; includes full text of the proposed bill.
Annotated Bibliography 65
0310 "Child art." Life 1 (November 30, 1936): 44.
Reproductions of watercolors done by children under the FAP. Illustrations of work by Alphonse Basile, Donald Lig- uore, Tiberio Benevento, and Louis Novar.
0311 "The artist must survive." Art Front 3 (December 1936): 18.
Announcement of planned demonstration of support for the FAP to take place at the Daly Theater (NYC) ; includes a list of speakers.
0312 "Curtailment." Art Front "^ (December 1936): 3.
Editorial questioning why the FAP is being cut; claims it is politics and not money behind the cuts.
0313 Holme, B. "New Horizons in American art." Studio 112 (December 1936): 347-50.
Generally favorable review of "New Horizons in American Art" exhibition.