1934+-+A+New+Deal+for+Artists

1934 Born: Santa Ana, California 1903 Died: La Jolla, California 1978 oil on canvas 39 7/8 x 50 1/8 in. (101.4 x 127.3 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor 1964.1.40 ||
 * [[image:http://americanart.si.edu/images/1964/1964.1.40_1c.jpg align="center"]] ||
 * **Valley Farms**
 * Ross Dickinson**


 * February 27, 2009 – January 3, 2010**

In 1934, Americans grappled with an economic situation that feels all too familiar today. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration created the Public Works of Art Program—the first federal government program to support the arts nationally. Federal officials in the 1930s understood how essential art was to sustaining America's spirit. Artists from across the United States who participated in the program, which lasted only six months from mid-December 1933 to June 1934, were encouraged to depict "the American Scene." The Public Works of Art Program not only paid artists to embellish public buildings, but also provided them with a sense of pride in serving their country. 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.

//1934: A New Deal for Artists// celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Program by drawing on the Smithsonian American Art Museum's unparalleled collection of vibrant artworks created for the program. The paintings in this 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, curatorial associate.

The exhibition will begin a three-year national tour in 2010. Confirmed venues include the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (January 30, 2010 – April 25, 2010); the Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, Michigan (February 16, 2012 – May 6, 2012); and the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine (October 25, 2012 – January 20, 2013).

Picturing the Thirties [|1934 Exhibition Slide Show] [|Mapping 1934]
 * Links:**

March 19, 2009; [|Gallery Talk] with Ann Prentice Wagner April 30, 2009; 1934 Film Series: [|Bound for Glory] May 9, 2009; [|Family Day: Remembering the 1930s] May 9, 2009; 1934 Film Series: [|Annie] May 21, 2009; 1934 Film Series: [|The Grapes of Wrath] June 16, 2009; //[|Coaxing the Soul of America Back to Life]//with Roger Kennedy June 25, 2009; 1934 Film Series: [|It Happened One Night] July 9, 2009; [|Gallery Talk] with George Gurney July 16, 2009; 1934 Film Series: [|Imitation of Life] August 13, 2009; 1934 Film Series: [|The Man Who Knew Too Much]
 * Talks/Lectures:**

[|Flickr Site]
 * Other Images:**

National Public Radio, Morning Edition, [|"'1934': Reflecting On America's First Big Art Buy"] by Elizabeth Blair The Washington Post, [|"American Scenes Tempered by Tough Times"] by Michael O'Sullivan WAMU 88.5, Metro Connection, [|interview with Elizabeth Broun] Washington Times, [|"ART: Creativity during hard times"] by Deborah Dietsch BBC World News America, [|interview with Elizabeth Broun] Smithsonian magazine (online), [|" What’s the Deal about New Deal Art?"] by David Taylor Smithsonian magazine, [|" 1934: Picturing Hard Times"] by Jerry Adler
 * Press:**