Hollywood movies often show a band of heroes searching for priceless treasures believed lost, stolen, or mythical. Right now the State Library is on its own quest for treasure, but this time the treasure may be in many different locations. From the early 1930’s to the outbreak of war, the federal government invested substantial funds in back-to-work programs, including work projects in the arts. In Connecticut the feds employed 160 Connecticut artists to create over 5000 pieces of art. About 1700 of these paintings, murals, and sculptures were allocated to public institutions throughout the state. So who were these artists and where did all their artwork go? Could some of these items still be in libraries?
The Connecticut State Library is trying to answer these and other questions regarding the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Federal Art Project in Connecticut. This was the first time that the federal government made a concerted effort to invest directly in American artistic culture. FDR’s administration set up Federal Theater, Music, Dance, and Writers Projects, as well as an Art Project. Their intention was to put creative people to work, and in the case of the Art Project, this meant employing painters, sculptors, photographers (to photograph the art work), and carpenters (to build frames). Some of the artists would enjoy great success and others would disappear, along with much of the Art Project artwork.
Mark Jones, State Archivist, is in charge of the W.P.A. Inventory Project. With special Legislative funding, Mark began working with the records of the Federal Art Project now in the State Archives. These records include artist cards that list much of the artwork created by the artists. Though there is some information available on what public institutions received the artwork, not all the art went to institutions and some of the art produced by the project is not accounted for in the records.
Last summer, Mark Jones used the help of a summer intern and art student, Nolan Pelletier, to put all this information into databases with the intention of creating a searchable Internet resource. This resource will include the information on the artist cards as well as digital versions of the black and white photographs taken of the artwork by the Project photographers. Mark and his staff have also done considerable research on the artists employed during this WPA program. Consulting directories, databases, art museums, newspapers, and other resources, Mark is compiling short biographical information on as many artists as he can identify and this added information will make the eventual Internet resource an invaluable tool for art students and historians in Connecticut.
Beatrice Laving Cuming (1903 –1974), for example, studied painting in Paris during the 1920s and spent much of her life traveling to places where she considered the landscape inspiring. Employed for several years by the Art Project, she would go on to paint in Texas and New Mexico, would write a book about travels in North Africa, and would design her own home in New London, Connecticut.
Vito Covelli (1882-1958) was born in Italy and found much success as a landscape painter in New York City. He and his wife, a renowned opera singer, moved to a secluded rural property in Barkhamsted where Vito painted and his wife composed music and wrote poetry. The Covellis called their place a “National Rural Art Museum,” where visitors stopped to see the “hundreds” of paintings in their house.
John Steuart Curry (1897-1946) and James Henry Daugherty (1887-1974) were critically acclaimed and internationally known artists. Curry lived for some time in Westport, painting murals there before leaving the Project in 1936. His last great murals, painted in 1943 at the Kansas state house, would create such controversy for their depiction of the Civil War era “bloody Kansas” that he was not allowed to finish them. Curry died shortly thereafter. Daugherty would enjoy a longer life and spent much more time in Connecticut, living in Westport and Weston. Daugherty is well known for his Depression-era murals, one of which was saved from destruction during a renovation project at the Stamford High School when a passing bicyclist found the mural canvases in the trash.
Unfortunately, other WPA artwork that found itself in the trash probably did not benefit from a similar rescue. The State Library’s Inventory Project seeks to find as much of the Art Project’s artwork as possible. The State Library itself has about 50 items in its collections, including at least one painting recovered recently from a Hartford area school and about 30 that had found their way to State Surplus. But Mark is quick to point out that the State Library is not interested recovering the art for State ownership. The Inventory Project hopes to find and photograph as much of the artwork as possible so that these digital photographs will be available in the State Library’s Internet inventory. Phase two of the Inventory Project will involve trying to locate and photograph the artwork in Connecticut, especially those art pieces that found their way to public institutions.
What public institutions? Generally the Art Project allocated artwork to court houses, state hospitals, sanatoriums, post offices, schools, and libraries. Even if the artwork was not specifically allocated to the library, many of the public institutions which did receive artwork no longer exist or have been moved to new facilities. Some of this artwork may have found its way to the local library. How would you know if the artwork you own is from the Art Project? There may be a label somewhere on the frame (if it hasn’t been replaced) or on the back of the artwork. If so, a call to Mark Jones will help provide verification. Generally the Art Project managers of the 1930’s were looking for art that was pleasing to the eye. Don’t expect to find much of the era’s surrealist art, though some of this art did get commissioned as part of the Project. Artists were more likely to create social realist art, and often painted landscapes, still lifes, and depictions of transportation, sports, or school subjects. At least one artist made the Merritt Parkway the main subject for his paintings.
What makes the WPA Federal Art Project so important in Connecticut? Nothing like it had been done before or since, which makes the Inventory Project so important in understanding Connecticut’s Depression-Era art history. There is more information available on the State Library’s WPA Inventory Project at http://www.cslib.org/archives/wpaartannounce.htm. Or you may contact Mark Jones, State Archivist, at 860-757-6511.
An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.
