Full text of Press Releases of the Works Progress Administration : 100 Selected Works of WPA Artists are Exhibited in Washington : June 15, 1936, 4-1194

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THE

WORKS

PROGRAM

1194

JUN 19 1936

-- Works Progress Administration -Northweste rn
Uni v e rsity
LI ► rary

For Immediate Release,
June 15 , 1936
100 Selected Works of WPA Artists are Exhibited in Washington.

In the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, hang one hundred works produced by artists who have been employed under the Federal Art Project of the
Works Progress Administration throughout the country.

The exhibition opened

on June 15, with an invitation pre-view, attended by Works Progress Administrator Harry L. Hopkins and other leaders in government circles as well as many
prominent in the art and social worlds of Washington.
The selection of works made by Duncan Phillips, Marjorie Phillips and C.
Law Watkins, give a vivid cross section of the accomplishments of the Federal
Art Project in easel painting, watercolor, mural design and graphic art.

In

addition, a room devoted to paintings and sculpture by children shows what is
being done in settlements and community houses under the teaching staff of the
Project.

A small selection of sculpture is also included in the display,

Beauty of installation and intimate arrangement are the first impressions
made by the exhibition.

Downstairs, the paintings hang as in a private home in

three living rooms with antique furniture and mellow toned rugs.
no long rows of pictures, no crowding, no rigid classification.

There are
Spectacular

subject matter and easy recipes for interpreting the American scene are conspicuous by their absence.

Instead, the visitor feels almost at once an em-

phasis upon sound technical accomplishment, a freshness of personal vision and
a freedom from imitative influences.
On the second floor, one large and a series of smaller rooms, give both
informality and the advantage of pleasant and congenial groupings for various
tyr,es of work.

In the main gallery, long wall spaces provide an excellent

background for the mural sketches for several schools in Illinois which are
one of the features of the exhibition,
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Accompanyi~g these designs are a group of watercolors by artists from
•
various sections of the country, ranging from some striking figure subjects to
poetic interpretations
of Middle Western farming country.
' ..

Turning into the

smaller rooms, the visitor finds selections revealing the variety of mood and
vitality of expression that appear in the water colors being done in m!lly sections of the country from New York to California.

Selected examples of the

graphic arts invite the print lover to linger in another special gallery, while
the surprising compositions of child artists give strong color accents to another
_room.
A number of the most striking paintings in the exhibition hang in the
downstairs hall, along the stairway and on landings where the visitor naturally
pauses before turning into the smaller rooms.
11 The

One of these is Joseph Stella's

Bridge" with its vibrant blues and taut, electrical upward rhythms.

Another

is John Walley 1 s sketch for a theatre curtain in the Auditorium of the Lane
Technical High School in Chicago.

Here, onrushing Indians, a buffalo herd, deer

and Indian dancers combine in a design filled with action and imagination.

A

t:urd striking work is Stuart Davis 1 "Waterfront" interpreted in semi-abstract
forms that contrast strongly in their brilliant patterning with the idyllic mood
of William Schwartz 1 "Village Square" hanging close by.

Another of the largest

works, a sand painting by Red Robin, Zuni Indian artist from Colorado, uses
traditional tribal motives in a technique that has unique interest.
Several of the water color designs for murals have a strong subject appeal
as well as high aesthetic merit.

By Emanuel Jacobson are "Transportation,"

"Early Schoolhouse" and "Early American Parlor" which are being executed for
the Horace Mann School in Oa.~ Park, Illinois.

With their restful spacing and

draughtsmanship and pure, flat color these murals express the spirit and life
of a not far distant past in a decorative style that is essentially American,
Strongly in contrast, but equally true in their feeling for mural values,
are Karl Kelp 1 s "Farmers" and "Early Settlers", two of the designs for a fresco
in the Hawthorne School in Chicago.

Strong, massed movement and rich harmonies

are the outstanding characteristics of these designs.

Strength of style and

originality of conception appear in Mitchell Siporin' s "Prairie Poets" a sketch
in egg tempera for a proposed mural in one of the Chicago schools, while Rolf
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Henrichsen 1 s "Earth; Air and Fire" which is one of a series of panels for the
Auditorium of the Gordon School in Lake Forest, Illinois, has a delicacy that
is in accord with the subject matter.
Bernice Cross of Washington, D. C. also contributes a design for a mural
for Friendship House which has a highly personal phantasy.

Another large paint-

ing by this artist is aloo included in the exhibition •
.Among the oil paintings, which are shown for the most part in the downstairs
rooms, there is great variety of s~yle and subject matter.
are by artists from the New York district.

Many of these works

Austin Mecklem's

11

Landscape 11 unfolds

a glowing panorama, enlivened by figures of skaters sheltered by winter hills.
Saul Berman, in another large canvas gives a sensitive and personal vision of
spring in Washington Square.

Louis Guglielmi in "Hague Street" casts a mood of

reserved beauty over a sordid district.

A compact and aristocratic still life

is achieved by Stuart Edie who combines a T-square, a globe and other motives.
Yvonne Twining of Massachusetts is a realist with an eye for the vivid,
humorous details of city life,

Her "Washington Street" is a lively place.

Allan Crite, a Negro artist from this same state, also contributes a street scene
that has intensity of feeling and style.
Other easel paintings which show individuality in depicting various aspects
of the American scene include "Stone Qµarry" by Joseph de Martini, "Vermont
Village" by Prestopino, "Coal Barge 11 by Bumpei Usui and "Oyster Boats" by Georgina
Kli tgaard.

A solid note of Western realism appears in the "Golden, Colorado, 11

of Eugene Trentham of Denver •
.Among the figure subjects in the exhibition, done both in oil and water
color are a number of strongly conceived works.

Sam Brown, the young Negro artist

from Philadelphia uses a blue that is infused with tenderness in his "Child
Prodigy" and "Girl Reading. 11

Jack Levine of Boston in 11 At the Table" strikes

a note that is representative of the vitality that is now appearing in the work
of many New England artists.

Elizabeth Terrell of New York City with "Girl and

Marionette" and William Earl Singer of Illinois in "Young Student" show other
trends towards figure compositions that are personal in character and execution.
The water colors form.the largest group in the exhibition and here, especial]3"
there is evidence that a definite decentralization of talent is ta.king place under
the Federal Art Project.

This impulse appears in different centers throughout the

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coun~ry such as lll,inois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California,
Massachusetts, 04io and Iowa •
.Among the large group of young wat ercolorists from Illinois, there appears
a fair1y marked trend away from industrial subjects to poetic interpret ations of
Middle Western farming country.

Rainey Bennett with his tender and evocative

interpretations of apple orchards and pasture lands and Raymond Breinin who brings
a haunting note of blue to his "Lonesome Farm" are representative of this fresh .
and vital development.

However, .Aaron Bohrod, who discovers beauty in the drab-

ness of Halstead Street shows that artists are still aware of the stimulation of
our great cities.
Many other sections of the country have also reached a new distinction in
the water color medium under the direction of the Federal Art Project.

"Houses

on the River" by Karl Zerbe of Massachusetts shows tonal mastery in the use of
the varied green sharpened with vermilion and white, while Helen Dickson from .
this same state communicates the isolation of her locale in the tones and compositi9n of "Fisherman's Shack. 11
J. de Mers, Carlos Dyer and A. Rexroth from California contribute work that
is marked by a true regionalism.

Their work communicates the differences in

light and sky and water that distinguish the Pacific coast from the Eastern
seaboard.
In Minnesota, Cameron Booth uses water color with unusual depth and solidity
in

II

Street Scene" while Fenelle in

11

Homing Pigeons in Storm" us es this same

medium to attain subtle atmospheric effects.
Two Ohio artists, William Sommers and Jack Greitzer contribute works that
communicate a compelling mood.
and Glenn Chamberlain's

11

From Iowa come .Arnold Pyle's derelict locomotive

Landscape 11 , while a crisp, decisive quality of line and

color marks the "Fishing Boat 11 of Lewandowski, a Wisconsin artist,
Claire Sibber, a Louisiana artist, chronicles a picturesque scene in her
state in "Napoleon Dock. 11
The few pieces of sculpture which are included in the exhibition reveal
such contrasting trends as the subtly graceful figures of Concetta Scaravaglione
and the humor and sharpness of "The Cyclist" by Rayford.
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