ResouRce Guide

1934: A New Deal for Artists is organized and circulated by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with support from the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund and the Smithsonian Council for American Art. The C. F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.

A NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTSMay 26 – August 21, 2011

1934

1934: A new deAl for Artists

May 26–August 21, 2011

1934: A New Deal for Artists celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Project by drawing on the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s unparalleled collection of vibrant paintings created for the program. The 56 paintings in the exhibition are a lasting visual record of America at a specific moment in time. George Gurney, deputy chief curator, organized the exhibition with Ann Prentice Wagner, independent curator.

Federal officials in the 1930s understood how essential art was to sustaining America’s spirit. During the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration created the Public Works of Art Project, which lasted only six months from mid-December 1933 to June 1934. The purpose of the program was to alleviate the distress of professional, unemployed American artists by paying them to produce artwork that could be used to embellish public buildings. The program was administered under the Treasury Department by art professionals in 16 different regions of the country.

Artists from across the United States who participated in the program were encouraged to depict “the American Scene,” but they were allowed to interpret this idea freely. They painted regional, recognizable subjects—ranging from portraits to cityscapes and images of city life to landscapes and depictions of rural life—that reminded the public of quintessential American values such as hard work, community, and optimism. These artworks, which were displayed in schools, libraries, post offices, museums, and government buildings, vividly capture the realities and ideals of Depression-era America.

The exhibition is arranged into eight sections: “American People,” “City Life,” “Labor,” “Industry,” “Leisure,” “The City,” “The Country,” and “Nature.” Works from 13 of the 16 regions established by the Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts are represented in the exhibition.

01

tAble of contents1 exhibition introduction

2 Public works of Art Project

3 industry

4 the city

5 city life

6 labor

7 American People

8 leisure

9 the country

10 nature

11 timeline

13 reading lists

18 lessons Plans

“i pledge you, i pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.”

fdr, accepting the democratic Party nomination for President, 1932

Detail: Ilya Bolotowsky (American, 1907-1981). In the Barber Shop, 1934.Oil on Canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.79

1934: A new deAl for Artists 02

AboUt tHe PUblic worKs of Art ProJectThe United States was in crisis as 1934 approached. The national economy had fallen into an extended depression after the stock market crash of October 1929. Thousands of banks failed, wiping out the life savings of millions of families. Farmers battled drought, erosion, and declining food prices. Businesses struggled or collapsed. A quarter of the work force was unemployed, while an equal number worked reduced hours. More and more people were homeless and hungry. Nearly 10,000 unemployed artists faced destitution.

The nation looked expectantly to President Roosevelt, who was inaugurated in March 1933. The new administration swiftly initiated a wide-ranging series of economic recovery programs called the New Deal. The President realized that Americans needed not only employment but also the inspiration art could provide. The Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts organized the Public Works of Art Project on December 8, 1933. Within days, 16 regional committees were recruiting artists who eagerly set to work in all parts of the country. During the project’s brief existence, from December 1933 to June 1934, the Public Works of Art Project hired 3,749 artists who created 15,663 paintings, murals, sculptures, prints, drawings, and craft objects at a cost of $1,312,000.

In April 1934, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., exhibited more than 500 works created as part of the Public Works of Art Project. Selected paintings from the Corcoran exhibition later traveled to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and other cities across the country. President Roosevelt, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and government officials who attended the exhibition in Washington acclaimed the art enthusiastically. The Roosevelts selected 32 paintings for display at the White House, including Sheets’ Tenement Flats (1933–34) and Strong’s Golden Gate Bridge (1934). The success of the Public Works of Art Project paved the way for later New Deal art programs, including the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project.

Nearly 150 paintings from the Public Works of Art Project were transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum during the 1960s, along with a large number of artworks from subsequent programs that extended into the 1940s, especially the well-known Works Progress Administration program. The museum has one of the largest collections of New Deal art in the world, numbering nearly 3,000 objects.

Detail: Morris Kantor (American, 1896–1974). Baseball at Night, 1934. Oil on linen Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Morris Kantor, 1976.146.18

the Project has been a recognition of the value of culture and the arts in American life. it is a significant example of the President’s desire to give the people of this country “a more abundant life.”

edward bruce, national exhibition of Art by the Public works of Art Project, 1934

America in the 1930sPopulation: 123,188,000 in 48 states

life expectancy: Male, 58.1 years; Female, 61.6 years

Average salary: $1,368 a yearUnemployment rises to 25%

food Prices: Milk, 14 cents per quart; Bread, 9 cents a loaf; Round Steak, 42 cents a pound

03

Paul Kelpe (American, 1902–1985). Machinery (Abstract #2), 1933–34. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.27

Paul KelpeMachinery (Abstract #2), 1933–34oil on canvas

What kind of industry does the man holding the levers control in Paul Kelpe’s painting Machinery? There are no hints; the smokestacks emit no smoke and no product piles up on the factory floor. In fact, Kelpe’s mechanism manufactures nothing. He was actually an abstract painter whose concerns were aesthetic. In his paintings for the Public Works of Art Project, he knew that he needed to somehow address the American scene. “As they refused to accept ‘nonrepresentational’ art,” he said, “I made a number of pictures with geometric machinery.” But Kelpe, unlike the many PWAP artists who factually depicted industrial scenes, studied no real-life factories. He created his own independent visual world, reflecting the kind of technological progress of which Americans were proud. The artist thoughtfully balanced large and small shapes, warm and cool colors, to create a harmonious mechanistic vision. A pattern of diagonal brushstrokes on the painting’s surface catches the light to suggest action. The wheels seem to turn with the soft hum of a well-tuned machine.

section one: indUstry

Ray Strong (American, 1905–2006). Golden Gate Bridge, 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.50

ray strongGolden Gate Bridge, 1934oil on canvas

This panoramic depiction of the Golden Gate Bridge under construction pays tribute to the ambitious feat of engineering required to span the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Artist Ray Strong painted looking north from the San Francisco side to the hills of Marin County, where the first bright orange tower rises. Tugboats and a freighter sailing across the deep blue waters typify the busy shipping that would routinely pass beneath the span. The bridge therefore had to have the highest deck ever built. The two massive concrete structures in the foreground are anchors for the cables supporting the deck. The vast structures on the San Francisco side dwarf the men working around the anchorages and pylons. Strong’s painting, with its intense colors and active brushwork, conveys an infectious optimism. Hundreds of tourists who shared the artist’s excitement came to gaze at this amazing project that continued despite the financial strains of the Great Depression and the disastrous storm that washed away a trestle on Halloween of 1933. It was only fitting that President Franklin Roosevelt chose this painting celebrating the triumph of American engineering to hang in the White House.

before viewing

define and discuss the following terms: Economic Depression, Great Depression, Black Tuesday, Wall Street Crash of 1929

U.s. statistics for the years 1929-1932

• Stocks lost more than 75% of their value, wiping out some $45 billion in wealth.

• About 20% of the roughly 25,000 banks failed because of heavy losses in the stock market, real estate, and other investments.

• Depositors lost more than $1 billion—some their life’s savings—in bank failures

• Roughly 300,000 other business failed.

• The national income dropped by more than 50% (from about $88 billion to about $42 billion)

• Suicide rates rose by more than 25% (from 13.9 to 17.4 per 100,000 people)

every artist... is so keyed up to the importance of the situation, amounting practically to a revoluntion for him, that he is without exception, putting every ounce of his energy and creative ability into his work as never before.

Harry gottlieb to edward bruce of the PwAP, January 2, 1934

section two: tHe city 04

Unidentified artist. Underpass—Binghamton, New York, 1933–34. Oil over photograph on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration, 1962.8.41

Unidentified ArtistUnderpAss—BinGhAMton, new York, 1933–34oil over PHotogrAPH on cAnvAs

The street and sidewalks are empty; not a person, car, or even a stray dog is to be seen. What is the viewer supposed to see in this unpopulated street illuminated by glowing street lamps? Do the yellow street sign and the modest fireplug have some unexpected significance? The real subject of the painting turns out to be a newly built underpass designed to safely route cars under the train tracks in Binghamton, New York. During the 1930s, several underpasses around Binghamton were upgraded by federal and New York State agencies working to improve city infrastructure while providing employment to those thrown out of work by the Great Depression. The stark lighting of street lamps at night shows off the clean lines of the freshly cast concrete, as if the underpass were a modernist sculpture or an elegant new office building. The Smithsonian owns two other paintings documenting railroad underpasses built elsewhere in the country during the same era. All three were painted by unidentified artists working over photographs printed on canvas. Through documentary projects of this kind, civil works became allied to artworks, providing employment for builders and artists alike.

brotHer, cAn yoU sPAre A diMe?Because of the severity of the depression, the gap between income brackets shrank. Before the Great Depression, middle-class Americans might have considered lazy anyone who was unemployed, and probably more so, they might have considered radical anyone who claimed the government owed them some assistance. In the 1930s, middle-class Americans increasingly saw the suffering millions among them as people much like themselves—people who had built the country that seemed to be falling apart.

The diminishing distance between classes helps explain why Americans embraced the song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?“ which was released right before FDR’s election and quickly rose to the top of the charts. The song asks why the people, who built the nation, who fought in wars, who tilled the earth, and who did what their nation asked of them, should now find themselves in bread lines.

In this 1932 file photo, long line of jobless and homeless men wait outside to get free dinner at New York’s municipal lodging house during the Great Depression. © The Associated Press

05

lily fUredisUBwAY, 1934oil on cAnvAs

In this painting, Lily Furedi boldly did something that few dare to do: she looked at people on the subway. She took the viewpoint of a seated rider gazing down the car at her fellow passengers. The Hungarian-born artist knew of the subway riders’ customary avoidance of staring at one’s fellow riders; most people in her painting keep to themselves by hiding behind a magazine or newspaper, or by sleeping. Those who violate the unwritten rule do so furtively. A woman takes a quiet sidelong glance at the newspaper read by the man next to her, while a man steals a peek at a young woman applying lipstick. Only two women in the foreground, who obviously know each other, dare to look directly at each other as they talk companionably.

Furedi takes a friendly interest in her fellow subway riders, portraying them sympathetically. She focuses particularly on a musician who has fallen asleep in his formal working clothes, holding his violin case. The artist would have identified with such a New York musician because her father, Samuel Furedi, was a professional cellist.

section three: city life

Lily Furedi (American, 1896–1969). Subway, 1934. Oil on canvasSmithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.43

MillArd sHeets teneMent FlAts, 1933–34oil on cAnvAs

These ramshackle tenements were home to poor families in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles during the Great Depression. The artist failed to show that just to the left of this view a cable car line called Angels Flight offered a ride up the steep hill. In the painting, a lone figure trudges up steps toward once elegant Victorian mansions that had degenerated into boardinghouses. Millard Sheets, an up-and-coming young California artist, enjoyed drawing and painting the people and houses of this colorful neighborhood. Here he shows women who have finished washing and hanging out their laundry in the days before electric appliances lightened these chores. The women stop to gossip, while leaning on stair rails, or sit in the shade to avoid the hot afternoon sun.

Sheets, like many artist members of regional committees, proudly gave his painting as a gift to his country. The shabbily dressed women in Tenement Flats would be startled to discover that this painting would hang in the elegant surroundings of the White House. PWAP paintings like this one were displayed in reception areas to show President Roosevelt’s commitment to art and to ordinary Americans across the country.

Millard Sheets (American, 1907–1989). Tenement Flats, 1933–34. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.48

before viewing

define and discuss the following terms: The New Deal and its three R’s--Relief for the unemployed and poor, Recovery of the economy to normal levels, Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

“we must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. we must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”

fdr, greeting to the American committee for the Protection of the foreign born, 1940

section four: lAbor 06

eArle ricHArdson eMploYMent oF neGroes in AGricUltUre, 1934oil on cAnvAs

Earle Richardson depicted his fellow African Americans working barefooted in a southern cotton field, but the artist denied demeaning stereotypes to stress the dignity of his subjects. These workers are not bent over to pick cotton; the three youthful figures have a monumental aspect, using their impressive strength to handle heavy baskets of cotton. Only one older woman bends over her task. The workers’ quiet pride transcends their identity as manual laborers. They stand at the front of the painting, where they confront the viewer as equals who are ready for a better life.

The Public Works of Art Project welcomed African American artists like Richardson who would paint “Negro themes.” Yet they counted only about ten such artists among the thousands employed on the Project. Richardson was also rare in showing a scene far from his home. The artist was a native New Yorker, but he set his painting in the South in order to make a broad statement about his race.

Earle Richardson (American, 1912–1935). Employment of Negroes in Agriculture, 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor 1964.1.183

HArry gottlieb FillinG the ice hoUse, 1934oil on cAnvAs

As workers like these knew well, it was cold, hard work filling the icehouses of upstate New York. In January 1934, artist Harry Gottlieb signed on with the PWAP and looked for American workers he could paint near his home in the artists’ colony of Woodstock, New York. He found these men harvesting natural ice, probably from Rondout Creek near Kingston. Local men had cut ice from lakes and streams in New York State every winter since the early 1800s. They sawed the thick layer of ice into long strips and then cut off large blocks. As Gottlieb’s painting shows, the red-faced workers, dressed in warm coats, used long hooks and wooden ramps to maneuver the slick, heavy ice into large commercial icehouses where they neatly stacked the blocks; straw or sawdust packing minimized melting in warm weather. Throughout the year, icehouses along the Hudson River stored ice that was shipped by train to New York City. Families and grocers put the ice into insulated iceboxes that kept food from spoiling. Artificial freezing dominated ice production after World War I, and then electric refrigerators became popular, so when Gottlieb documented the natural ice business it was gradually melting away.

Harry Gottlieb (American, 1895–1992). Filling the Ice House, 1934.Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor 1964.1.19

before viewing

define and discuss the following terms: Fair Labor Standards Act, Minimum Wage, Overtime, Child Labor

“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

fdr, first inaugural Address, 1933

“i do not look upon these United states as a finished product. we are still in the making. “

fdr, radio Address on brotherhood day, 1936

07section five: AMericAn PeoPle

ivAn AlbrigHt the FArMer’s kitchen, 1934oil on cAnvAs

Ivan Albright’s obsessively detailed painting style put on canvas the crushing impact of drudgery and advancing age. The swollen, red-knuckled hands of this farmwife preparing to clean radishes, pushed forward until they are impossible to ignore, evoke an aching sympathy. The cast-iron stove has become a tool of torture this woman cannot avoid in her daily grind. Wrinkles multiply over her drooping flesh, speaking too eloquently of years full of ceaseless labor. The family cat offers the woman no companionship, but shrinks away from her. Outside in the fields must be a farmer husband equally worn by long labor. The burden of empathy for this hard life, made yet harder by the Depression, is almost unbearable.

Who is this poor farmwife, limp with weariness and lined with toil? One of Albright’s neighbors in Warrenville, Illinois, posed for the painting. But no individual can explain the emotional freight of Albright’s depiction. He aged and distorted every person he painted, young or old. Albright painted flesh that does not heal as living flesh does, but crumples and shows the scars of every event with cruel clarity.

the New York Public Library’s 135th Street Branch, but neither young man lived long enough to complete the project.

Ivan Albright (American, 1897–1983). The Farmer’s Kitchen, 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.74

J. tHeodore JoHnson chicAGo interior, 1933–34oil on cAnvAs

The warmth from the radiator is almost palpable in this painting, contrasting with the snowy city seen through the window. The distinctive blue-tiled tower of the American Furniture Mart identifies the setting as Chicago, where artist J. Theodore Johnson and his wife, Barbara Salmon Johnson, came to attend an exhibition of the artist’s work shortly after they had wed in New York in December 1931. The artist lovingly portrayed his beautiful young wife reading in their hotel room. The warm browns, yellows, and oranges raise the visual temperature, heightened further by hot touches of red in the drapery and in Mrs. Johnson’s lips, cheeks, magazine, and chair. A heavy fur coat laid to dry by the radiator shows that Mrs. Johnson has recently come in to escape the frigid winds from Lake Michigan. Her husband was one of many artists who participated both in the Public Works of Art Project and in later Federal Art Projects. In 1937 and 1939, Johnson returned to Chicago to fulfill commissions from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for historical murals in the Morgan Park and Oak Park post offices.

J. Theodore Johnson (American, 1902–1963). Chicago Interior, 1933–34. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.82

before viewing

Many Americans faced unprecedented hardships during the Great Depression. Study and describe how Americans endured this period of extreme hunger and poverty.

“the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

fdr, second inaugural Address, 1937

section six: leisUre 08

Morris KAntor BAseBAll At niGht, 1934oil on linen

Stadium lighting was still rare in 1934 when artist Morris Kantor saw this night baseball game in West Nyack, New York. The artist strove to convey in his painting “the panoramic spectacle of the field, the surrounding landscape, the people, the players, and the nocturnal atmosphere.” Kantor showed the field proportionately smaller than it actually was to fit all this into his painting, along with a radio booth, flags waving against the night sky, and a runner taking his lead off first base. Major league baseball would not begin night games until 1935. However, in the early thirties minor league, Negro League, and exhibition stadiums like this one used portable or permanent lighting for night games that would draw crowds of people who worked during the day.

The Sports Center at the Clarkstown Country Club in West Nyack was a versatile venue that hosted baseball games played by minor league teams, barnstorming professionals, local semipro groups of firemen and policemen, and club members. Catering to the Depression-era thirst for varied, affordable entertainment, the Center also staged boxing and wrestling matches. Eccentric proprietors Pierre A. Bernard and his wife, Blanche de Vries, even maintained a herd of performing elephants.

Morris Kantor (American, 1896–1974). Baseball at Night, 1934. Oil on linen. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Morris Kantor, 1976.146.18

JUliA ecKelrAdio broAdcAst, 1933–34oil on cAnvAs

Gathering around microphones as in Julia Eckel’s painting, actors and musicians of the 1930s created drama, comedy, and musical performances enjoyed by radio audiences across the country. During the Great Depression, Will Rogers’s humor, Bing Crosby’s crooning, Graham McNamee’s news coverage, and series like “Fibber McGee and Molly” were part of the American scene. President Franklin Roosevelt explained his decisions to the nation through his famous radio broadcast “fireside chats.”

Artist Julia Eckel used tightly spaced figures and controlled gestures to illustrate the close cooperation among star actors, secondary players, and musicians performing live on the air. The painting shows musicians playing during an interlude in the action as the leading lady, dressed in red and green, stands poised to speak her next line. Viewers of the painting, like radio listeners, feel the tension as they wait for the action to resume. Eckel kept her visual drama taut by leaving out such distracting practical details as the scripts and sheet music, which are prominent in publicity photographs of radio performances.

Julia Eckel (American, 1909–1988). Radio Broadcast, 1933–34. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.66

before viewing

Televisions were not largely manufactured and did not become popular until after World War II. How did most Americans get their news? What were some popular leisurely pastimes?

“freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free.”

fdr, Address to the national education Association, 1938

09section seven: tHe coUntry

Kenjiro Nomura (American, 1896–1956). The Farm, 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.36

KenJiro noMUrA the FArM, 1934oil on cAnvAs

A farm scene with green trees would seem to be a positive view of the American scene, but Kenjiro Nomura’s painting suggests a hidden threat. Clouds gather and darkness fills the barn and sheds while the foreground road is in shadow. Not a figure or animal is to be seen.

In the Seattle area where Nomura lived, many of his fellow Japanese Americans made their living as fruit and vegetable farmers. Since 1921, they had been subject to anti-alien laws that prevented foreign-born Japanese Americans and other aliens from owning or leasing land. Those born in America who could own farmland still suffered from prejudice. During the Great Depression, many Japanese American farmers barely managed to survive, living only on what they grew themselves. It is no wonder that Nomura’s view of a farm during this period is disquieting.

As other Americans emerged from the Great Depression during World War II, Nomura and other Japanese Americans were victimized again by being removed from their homes, businesses, and farms to be interned in camps. Like his PWAP painting, Nomura’s images made in internment camps feature dark skies and deep colors that evoke the shadow of injustice.

dUst bowlThe dust bowl was a period of severe dust storms and drought across the American shortgrass prairie. The drought, coupled with extensive farming without crop rotation and the lack of other techniques to prevent erosion, caused millions of acres of farmland to become useless, and thousands of people were forced to leave their homes.

Though strongly associated with the dust bowl, Oklahoma actually had less acreage affected by the phenomenon than the other dust bowl states—Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico. Only northwestern Oklahoma counties were designated by the Soil Conservation Service as affected areas. However, far more migrant farmers left southeastern Oklahoma than the dust bowl region because of poor crops and low prices.

Location: Dallas, South Dakota. Date: May 13, 1936. Description: Buried machinery in barn lot during the Dust Bowl, an agricultural, ecological, and economic disaster in the Great Plains region of North America. Source: United States Department of Agriculture

section eight: nAtUre 10

wintHroP dUtHie tUrney selection FroM Birds And AniMAls oF the United stAtes, 1934oil on cAnvAs

Artist Winthrop Turney created this painting as a fantasy gathering of American wildlife visually spanning his nation from coast to coast. The artist hoped that this painting of animals grouped around a lavender-tinted tree would become a large mural to adorn a school. The mural would show urban schoolchildren American animals from a variety of environments. Denizens of the eastern coast and swamps inhabit the foreground: the Florida alligator basks below a flying American pelican and a tern; an anhinga spreads its wings to dry; and an egret stands in the lower right corner. The woodland animals are further back: a gray squirrel perches on a tree branch while the striped skunk, groundhog, black bear, wolverine, American porcupine, and red fox stand on the middle ground. In the background are creatures native to the western plains and mountains: the coyote, turkey vulture, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, and mountain goat. Like the children for whom he painted, Turney lived in New York. He probably knew the gray squirrels of Central Park better than the other animals in the picture, which he saw only in pictures and New York-area zoos.

Winthrop Duthie Turney (American, 1884–1965). Selection from Birds and Animals of the United States, 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1974.28.75 ross dicKinson

VAlleY FArMs, 1934oil on cAnvAs

Stark hills seem to threaten the lush farms at their feet in this vivid painting of a Southern California valley. California artist Ross Dickinson dramatized his home state’s eternal confrontation of nature and man by exaggerating the steep slopes of the hills and the harsh contrast between the dry red wilderness and the green cultivated land. The artist stressed the centrality of water in California. A river, reflecting the pale sky, is a milky curve against the verdant valley. The irrigated farms are luxuriant, while the hills during the summer dry season are an arid brown. Dickinson reminded the viewer of the constant threat of fire by showing a farmer burning brush or trash in the foreground, with the red flame sending up a thin column of smoke. In the background, a larger plume of smoke suggests a chaparral fire going out of control, a potential threat to the little white houses in the valley. The danger parallels other stresses that faced the region during the Great Depression, as the homeless and hopeless from the drought-plagued Dust Bowl poured westward in search of agricultural work. The destitute hordes demanded far more jobs than California could offer.

Ross Dickinson (American, 1903–1978). Valley Farms, 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.40

before viewing

define and discuss the following terms: Soil Conservation Service (now known as Natural Resources Conservation Service) and Civilian Conservation Corps.

How did FDR and his policies affect and contribute to preserving national parks and other protected lands?

“…Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.”

fdr, Address at the dedication of the national gallery of Art, 1941

11tiMeline

1929 October – Stock market crashes, beginning the Great Depression

1930President Hoover says the worst effects of the depression will be over within 90 days: “Prosperity is just around the corner.”

September 9 – U.S. State Department restricts immigration of foreign laborers to combat unemployment

December 11 – U.S. Bank goes under; 60 branches in New York and more than 1,300 close nationwide by year’s end

December 31 – Hoover urges Congress to provide up to $150 million for public works to create jobs

1931Severe drought hits the Midwest and southern plains. As crops die, the “black blizzards” begin.

Unemployment exceeds 8 million, 16% of the nation’s workforce

1932June 17 – The Bonus Army, popular name of an assemblage of some 4,300 marchers and 17,000 World War I veterans, masses at the U.S. Capitol as the U.S. Senate defeats the Bonus Bill, which would have provided cash-payment redemption of their service certificates

November – Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected 32nd president of the United States

1933March 20 – FDR inaugurated and takes office as president

May 9 – George Biddle, artist and friend of FDR, writes to the president, urging him to create a federal program to support the American artist

May 12 – Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 approved, creating the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA); Harry L. Hopkins appointed administrator

November 9 – FDR creates the Civil Works Administration, under which the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) is placed

December 8 – PWAP initiated; Edward Bruce appointed to the Treasury Department as administrator of PWAPUnemployment reaches 14 million, 25% of the nation’s workforce

1934The Artists’ Union formed to protect the rights of the American artist

April 24–May 20 – National Exhibition of Art by the Public Works of Art Project opens at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

May 20 – PWAP terminated; incomplete projects continue under various funding until July 1935

October 16 – Section of Painting and Sculpture (The Section) under the U.S. Treasury Department created by order of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau; used to fund creation of art to decorate federal buildings, especially post offices; Edward Bruce named chief of section

1935April 14 – Black Sunday, the worst “black blizzard” of the dust bowl occurs

May 6 – Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA)

May – FDR issues executive order banning exclusion of African Americans from WPA projects

July 25 – Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) established with WPA funds

August 2 – Announcement of Federal Project Number One (Federal One), collective name for a group of projects under the WPA; Federal One includes Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), Historical Records Survey (HRS), Federal Theatre Project (FTP), Federal Music Project (FMP), and Federal Art Project (FAP); Holger Cahill named national director of the Federal Art Project

August 29 – Federal funding allocated to Federal One

December – The WPA Experimental Gallery opens to the public in the Commerce Exchange Building in downtown OKC at 8A S. Robinson; Nan Sheets named technical advisor of the gallery.

Henry Morgenthau visits President Roosevelt at Warm Springs, Georgia, 1933. Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York.

tiMeline 12

December 27 – Federal Art Project Gallery opens in New York City

Thomas Parker, assistant director of FAP, meets with Oklahoma City artist Nan Sheets to discuss possibility of a WPA art center in OKC

1936June 30 – Employment on Federal One project peaks at 44,797

FDR re-elected as president for 2nd term

1937The Farm Security Administration (FSA) formed out of the old Resettlement Administration with the primary goal „to combat the social and economic dislocations caused by the distressing agricultural climate;“ One of the lasting benefits of the FSA was the body of photographs created in the FSA Historical Section of the Information Division

1938January – OKC’s WPA Experimental Gallery moves into the recently completed Municipal Auditorium (now Civic Center Music Hall)

July 1 – TRAP discontinuedDecember 24 – Francis C. Harrington named head of the WPA

The extensive work re-plowing the land into furrows, planting trees in shelterbelts, and other conservation methods results in a 65% reduction in soil erosion, however, drought continues

1939September – WWII begins in Europe; The New York World’s Fair opens, showcasing FAP and Section work; Television makes its debut at the World’s Fair, but the war interrupts further development

July 1 – FDR’s Reorganization Plan takes effect, transferring the Works Progress Administration to the newly created Federal Works Agency and renaming it the Work Projects Administration (WPA); Section of Painting and Sculpture transferred from the Treasury Department to the WPA

During the fall, rain finally brings an end to the drought

1940November 25–December 1 – “National Art Week” sponsored by the Section of Painting and Sculpture and FAP

FDR re-elected president for an unprecedented 3rd term

1941December 7 – Attack on Pearl Harbor brings the U.S. into WWII

Unemployment rate drops below 10%

1942April 18 – Service Letter #3 discontinues nearly all WPA/FAP activities

WPA allocates 28 WPA paintings to the City of Oklahoma City, until the incorporation of the Oklahoma Art Center in 1945

1943January 27 – Edward Bruce dies

June 30 – Termination of the WPASection of Painting and Sculpture ceases to operate

1944FDR re-elected president for a 4th term1945

April 12 – FDR dies after serving only four months of his 4th term as president; Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeds FDR as 33rd president of the United States

May 7 – Berlin falls to the Allies; Germany surrenders

August 6 & 9 – U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

September 2 – Japan formally surrenders, ending WWII

Migrant family in their automobile east of Fort Gibson, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, 1939

Workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps, ca. 1936

13reading list: PrescHool–eleMentAry

PrescHool –eleMentAry scHool reAding list Resources from the Metropolitan Library System

Adler, David A. The Babe and I. 1999. (Kindergarten-Grade 2)It‘s 1932, and everyone is struggling through the Great Depression. When the young narrator discovers that his father is jobless, he decides to become a newsie. He and his friend Jacob figure out how to sell more papers than the other kids . . with a little help from The Babe.

Burton, Virginia Lee. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. 1939. (Preschool-Grade 2 )When Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Mary Ann, lose their jobs to the gasoline, electric, and diesel motor shovels, they go to a little country town where they find that one new job leads to another.

Christensen, Bonnie. Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People. 2001. (Preschool-Grade 4)Celebrates the life and career of the folk musician who wrote over 1,000 songs championing the poor, the disenfranchised, labor unions, and America and its people before he was silenced by Huntingtons disease.

Cooney, Barbara. Eleanor. 1996. (Grades 3-6)Presents the childhood of Eleanor Roosevelt, who married a president of the United States and became known as a great humanitarian.

Gershwin, Ira. Summertime: from Porgy and Bess. 1999. (Preschool-Grade 2)Captures a moment in one family‘s life as they enjoy the simple pleasures of a sunny summer‘s day on the plantation, in a picture book that includes the score of the song.

Guthrie, Woody. This Land is Your Land. 1998. (All Ages)This well-known folk song is accompanied by a tribute from folksinger Pete Seeger, the musical notation, and a biographical scrapbook with photographs.

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. 1997. (Grades 5-9)In a series of poems, fourteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family‘s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Lied, Kate. Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression. 1997. (Kindergarten-Grade 2)During the „Great Depression,“ a family seeking work finds employment for two weeks digging potatoes in Idaho.

McLerran, Alice. Roxaboxen. 1991. (Preschool- Grade 4)A hill covered with rocks and wooden boxes becomes an imaginary town for Marian, her sisters, and their friends.

Miller, William. Rent Party Jazz. 2001. (Kindergarten-Grade 2)When Sonny‘s mother loses her job in New Orleans during the Depression, Smilin‘ Jack, a jazz musician, tells him how to organize a rent party to raise the money they need.

Myers, Anna. Red Dirt Jessie. 1992. (Grades 4-7)Jessie, a twelve-year-old girl living in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the Depression, tries to tame a wild dog and help her father recover from a nervous breakdown.

Piper. Watty. Little Engine That Could. 1930. (Preschool-Grade 2)When the other engines refuse, the Little Blue Engine tries to pull a stranded train full of toys and good food over the mountain.

Polacco, Patricia. John Philip Duck. 2004. (Kindergarten-Grade 4)During the Depression, a young Memphis boy trains his pet duck to do tricks in the fountain of a grand hotel and ends up becoming the Duck Master of the Peabody Hotel.

Raven, Margot Theis. Angels in the Dust. 1997. (Grades 2-6)Great Grandma Annie reminisces about life on her family‘s Oklahoma farm during the terrible drought of the 1930s when the region was known as the „Dust Bowl.“

Rylant, Cynthia. Something Permanent. 1994. (Grades 5-12)A collection of poetry accompanied by photographs documenting the country during the Great Depression.

reading list: PrescHool–eleMentAry 14

Sandler, Martin W. Dust Bowl through the Lens. 2009. (Grades 4-8)Photographs capture the horrific conditions of this national disaster, the struggles of the people who stayed to save their land, and the sorrows of those who were forced to move as a result of this catastrophe.

Skolsky, Mindy Warshaw. Hannah and the Whistling Teakettle. 2000. (Kindergarten-Grade 2)When she goes to visit her grandparents in the Bronx, Hannah wonders if her grandmother will consider the whistling tea kettle Hannah is bringing a necessity worth keeping when it helps to foil a robbery.

Skolsky, Mindy Warshaw. Love from Your Friend, Hannah. 1998. (Grades 3-6)From her home in back of the Grand View Restaurant in rural New York, Hannah writes letters to her best friend, a pen pal, and even to President and Mrs. Roosevelt.

Stewart, Sarah. The Gardener. 1997. (Kindergarten-Grade 2)A series of letters relating what happens when, after her father loses his job, Lydia Grace goes to live with her uncle Jim in the city but takes her love for gardening with her.

Travers, P. L. Mary Poppins. 1934. (Grades 3-6)The wind brings four English children a new nanny who slides up the banister and introduces them to some delightful people and experiences.

Tripp, Valerie. Meet Kit: An American Girl. 2000. (Grades 3-5)When her father‘s business closes because of the Great Depression forcing Kit to make changes in her life, the nine-year-old responds with resourcefulness.

Vanderpool, Clare. Moon Over Manifest. 2010. (Grades 5-8)Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

Wells, Rosemary. Wingwalker. 2002. (Grades 3-6)During the Depression, Reuben and his out-of-work parents move from Oklahoma to Minnesota, where his father gets a job as a carnival wingwalker and Reuben has a chance to overcome his terror of flying.

reading list: Middle And HigH scHool 15

Middle And HigH scHool reAding list (grAdes 6–12)Resources from the Metropolitan Library System

nonfictionBolden, Tonya. FDR’s Alphabet Soup: New Deal America, 1932-1939. 2010. J973.91 B6876fA discussion of Roosevelt’s policies and legislation of the 1930s and the many programs of the New Deal.

Corrigan, Jim. The 1930s: Decade in Photos: Depression and Hope. 2010. J973.91 C8253tA pictorial history of the 1930s in the United States, from the Great Depression to the New Deal.

Ennis, Carter. Posters for the People: The Art of the WPA. 2008. 741.674 C3235pCollects almost 500 posters and pieces of art designed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and early 40s.

Partridge, Elizabeth. Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange. 1998. J770.92 L274p BIOGRAPHY. Covers the life of Dorothea Lange, a well-known photographer of poor and needy American families of the 1930s; includes more than 60 examples of her work.

Wagner, Ann Prentice. 1934: A New Deal for Artists. 2009. 759.13 W1321nThe official catalog for the art exhibit from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Wroble, Lisa A. The New Deal and the Great Depression in American History. 2002. J973.91 W957nA history of the economic conditions in the United States during the 1920s & 30s, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, and the New Deal.

fictionHesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. 1997. J FICTION/HESBillie Jo, a fourteen year-old girl living in 1930s Oklahoma, describes the hardships of the dust bowl in this award-winning free verse novel.

Porter, Tracey. Treasures in the Dust. 1997. J FICTION/POR11-year old best friends Annie and Violet each tell their family’s stories during the Great Depression in Oklahoma.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. FICTION/STEAn American classic, this novel portrays the hardships of a family traveling from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression.

Winthrop, Elizabeth. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Letters from a Mill Town Girl. 2001. J FICTION/WINFrom the Dear Mr. President series, fictional letters between the president and a small town girl from 1933-1937.

16reading list: AdUlt

AdUlt reAding list

Alsburg, Henry G. America Fights the Depression: A Photographic Record of the Civil Works Administration. New York: Coward-McCann, 1934.

Anreus, Alejandro, Diana L. Linden, and Jonathan Weinberg, eds. The Social and the Real: Political Art of The 1930’s in the Western Hemisphere. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Microfilm records of the Treasury Department’s Public Works of Art Project, Records of the Public Works of Art Program, Record Group 121, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Badger, Anthony J. The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-40. New York: Noonday Press/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1989.

Bordo, Michael D., Claudia Dale Goldin, and Eugene N. White, eds. The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Borgwardt, Elizabeth. A New Deal for the World: America’s Vision for Human Rights. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005.

Brown, Mark M. The Cathedral of Learning: Concept, Design, Construction. Pittsburg: University Art Gallery, University of Pittsburg, 1987.

Bustard, Bruce I. A New Deal for the Arts. Washington, D.C., Seattle, and London: National Archives and Records Administration in association with the University of Washington Press, 1997.

Chandler, Lester V. America’s Greatest Depression, 1929-1941. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.

Cohen, Andrew Wender. American Monetary Policy, 1928-41. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.

Cohen, Lizabeth. Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Cooper, William Arthur. A Portrayal of Negro Life. Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Durham, NC: Published under The auspices of the Division of Cooperation in Education and Race Relations, Cooperating Organizations: State Department of Public Instruction, University of North Carolina, and Duke University, 1936.

Eichengreen, Barry. Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Feinstein, Charles H., Peter Temin, and Gianni Toniolo. The European Economy between the Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Fraser, Steve, and Gary Gerstle, eds. The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash: 1929. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghlin Mifflin, 1972.

Gray, Mary Lackritz. A Guide to Chicago’s Murals. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

Hawley, Ellis W. The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly: A Study in Economic Ambivalence. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.

Henderson, Amy. On the Air: Pioneers of American Broadcasting. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery, 1988.

Hickok, Lorena A. One-Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression. Edited by Richard Lowitt and Maurine Beasley. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981.

Ickes, Harold L. Back to Work: The Story of the PWA. New York: Macmillan, 1935.

Kalfatovic, Martin R. The New Deal Fine Arts Projects: A Bibliography, 1933-1992. Metuchen, NJ, and London: Scarecrow Press, 1994.

Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Kindleberger, Charles Poor. The World in Depression, 1929-1939. London: Allen Lane, 1973.

17reading list: AdUlt

Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1963. −.The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Light, Jonathan Fraser. The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997.

Maher, Neil M. Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

McElvaine, Robert S. The Depression and New Deal: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. −.The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. New York: Times Books, 1984.

McKinzie, Richard D. The New Deal for Artists. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Natanson, Nicholas. The Black Image in the New Deal: The Politics of FSA Photography. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.

New York: A Guide to the Empire State, Compiled by Workers of the Writers’ Program of the Works Progress Administration in the State of New York. New York: Oxford University Press, 1940. Reprint, 1947.

O’Connor, Francis V., ed. The New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972.−.Federal Art Patronage, 1933-1943. College Park: University of Maryland Art Gallery, 1966.

Patterson, James T. America’s Struggle against Poverty, 1900-1985. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986.−.Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservation Coalition in Congress, 1933-1939. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.−.The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

Phillips, Sarah T. This Land, This Nation: Conservation, Rural America, and the New Deal. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Rauchway, Eric. The Great Depression & the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Rhoads, B. Eric. Blast from the Past: A Pictorial History of Radio’s First 75 Years. West Palm Beach, FL: Streamline, 1996.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Edited by Samuel I.Rosenman. 13 vols. New York: Random House, 1938-50.

Schulman, Bruce J. From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt: Federal Policy, Economic Development, and the Transformation of the South, 1938-1980. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994.

Sherwood, Robert E. Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History. New York: Harper and Row, 1948.

lesson PlAn 18

cool geArsstUdy: Paul Kelpe, Machinery (Abstraction #2)

leArn: Shading, highlights, and geometric composition

tiMe needed: You may want to allow at least two class sessions for this project.

ProJect:• Take a look at Kelpe’s artwork and discuss gears and machines. • Use a pencil to draw circles of different sizes on your paper. (Templates or

compasses are helpful).• Add teeth to circles to create gears.• Gears might have crossbars and other details. • Use oil pastels in a cool color palette to color your gears. Black is used to add

shading and white for highlights. • Gears can be connected with bars or belts.• Pieces are finished with watercolors in a warm color palette filling all of the

remaining space.

tecHnology in tHe clAssrooM linK:http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gears4.htm

sUPPly list:• 12 x 18 White Paper• Pencils and erasers• Compasses or circle templates• Oil pastels• Watercolors• Paintbrushes

AroUnd My town cityscAPesstUdy: Works featured in The City and City Life sections

leArn:This lesson is designed to encourage students to examine their surroundings while introducing the concepts of background, foreground, middleground, landscape, cityscape, perspective, vanishing point, color mixing, value, mixed media and collage.

tiMe needed:This lesson will take approximately two 45-minute class periods.

ProJect:First, students should be shown examples of the work in 1934: A New Deal for Artists. Recommended works: Festival by Daniel Celentano, Third Avenue by Charles L. Goeller, Tenement Flats by Millard Sheets, Street Scene by Joe Jones, Finishing the Cathedral of Learning by Harry W. Scheuch, Manhattan Skyline by John Cunning, and Lower Manhattan by Thomas Jane Delbridge. All include cityscapes. Examine the types of colors used. Are they bright? Dull and muted? What kind of mood do the colors create? Be sure to point out the kinds of skies that are painted. How does the kind of sky affect the mood of the painting? Also, background, foreground, and middleground can be examined in each painting. If a lesson on one-point perspective is being taught, focus on Goeller’s Third Avenue and point out the vanishing point.

After viewing the works, the background will be painted on the watercolor paper with tempera paints. Different values of blues may be used to incorporate a value lesson. Bold brush strokes with lots of movement can be used to create a dynamic sky. Smooth controlled brush strokes can be used to create a calm sky.

While drying, construction paper scraps will be cut into shapes to form the buildings in the middleground. For younger students, simple rectangles can be used. For older students, more elaborate shapes can be created. A few photos of the downtown OKC area could be used for inspiration as well. Scheuch’s Finishing the Cathedral of Learning shows a building under construction. Photos of the new Devon building under construction could be used as inspiration. Use colored pencils, sharpies, and/or oil pastels to add details such as windows, doors, etc.

After gluing buildings, tempera paints may be used again to create a foreground. It can be kept simple, and simply be a street. Older students may choose to paint more buildings, figures, cars and other smaller details in the foreground. Encourage students to stick to a similar color palette that they used for the buildings and sky to create unity in the piece.

When complete, students will have created a mixed-media piece.

19lesson PlAn

sUPPly list: • Construction paper scraps (especially

grays, browns, blacks, yellows)• Watercolor paper (9x12 or larger)• Scissors• Glue• Tempera paints• Paintbrushes• Water containers• Paper towels• Oil pastels, sharpies, and/ or colored

pencils to add details