“Women of the WPA,” “Larger Than Life: Mural Studies” and “Celebrating Heroes: American Mural Studies of the 1930s and 1940s from the Steven and Susan Hirsch Collection” are three companion exhibitions centered on American art created during the New Deal era. The three are all on view together and flow through five galleries. The first two exhibitions will be on display until September 8, and “Celebrating Heroes” continues through September 15.
During the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration, which employed millions of people to complete public works projects. It also funded artists, writers and musicians, providing them with relief during the recession.
Deputy director Annelies Mondi, who put together the first two shows from the museum’s collection and served as in-house curator for “Celebrating Heroes,” had previously done a similar show on works of art from the WPA at Gainesville College. She said, “The first show wasn’t focused on gender, but I wanted to change that and celebrate women artists, so it’s a different approach this time around.” Mondi admitted that many of these women’s stories have been lost over the years. Very little research has been done on most of them, and some even had their names misspelled in records, making their careers difficult to track. While many of the artists from this exhibition remain largely unknown, several works by more famous artists are included, such as those by Dorothy Jeakins, the Magafan twins, Doris Lee and Lucienne Bloch.
Almost all the objects in “Women of the WPA” are products of printmaking (mostly black and white lithographs and etchings) that belong to the museum’s permanent collection. The grayscale images of life, landscapes and labor take viewers back to the days of the Great Depression. The WPA’s sponsorship can be seen directly on many of the prints through stamps and labels, marking these objects as historical documents of the government-funded arts program.
“One thing I love about the art from this era is the social commentary and depiction of everyday life,” Mondi remarked. “A lot of these artists wanted to tell the stories of workers who weren’t treated properly. You can tell where their interests lay: with worker’s rights.” For example, Minnetta Good’s lithographs sprawl across an entire wall, featuring still lifes and a collection of images of laborers in a Pennsylvania power plant. Many of the exhibition’s works include scenes of industrial life and impact, whether in the form of smokestacks in the background of a landscape or raggedy laborers dimly lit by forges.
“Larger Than Life” celebrates the process of artmaking by giving the viewer a unique behind-the-scenes perspective of making murals, juxtaposing pictures of the finished, colorful products with large preparatory drawings. The exhibition contains studies for American murals commissioned by local governments and organizations, including murals that commemorate our own campus. Art Rosenbaum’s charcoal study for his mural “The World at Large,” which celebrates the humanities and arts at UGA, hangs prominently on the back wall. Rosenbaum taught at the University of Georgia for over 30 years and had a retrospective exhibition at the museum in 2006. Studies for Jean Charlot’s mural above the doors of UGA’s Fine Arts Building show preparatory drawings of Lamar Dodd and his wife, Mary. The R.G. Stephens Jr. Federal Building in Athens allowed the museum to borrow Andrée Ruellan’s large oil on canvas “Spring in Georgia.”
Charles Rosen’s study for “View of the Village of Poughkeepsie” links this exhibition to “Celebrating Heroes,” which includes competition submissions for the US Post Office mural in Poughkeepsie, New York. “Celebrating Heroes” features almost 50 colorful drawings and paintings, including competition submissions and studies for murals intended to decorate and celebrate the United States during the New Deal. The collection of historical images provides insight into American social and political conversations that continue today.
For those who would like to learn more about the exhibitions, the museum is offering several educational programs and events.
– July 30 at 2 p.m.: Tour at Two: “Celebrating Heroes,” led by Annelies Mondi.
– August 13 at 10 a.m.: Toddler Tuesday: “Painting Murals.”
– August 20 at 2 p.m.: Tour at Two: “Women of the WPA,” led by Annelies Mondi.
– August 24 at 10 a.m.: Family Day: “Women of the WPA.”
– August 27 at 2 p.m.: Faculty Perspectives: “Celebrating Heroes,” with Dr. Akela Reason.
– August 29 at 7 p.m.: Film: “Enough to Live On: The Arts of the WPA.”
– September 5 at 11 a.m.: Campus Mural Walking Tour led by Annelies Mondi.
– September 5 at 7 p.m.: Film: “The Grapes of Wrath.”
– September 12 at 7 p.m.: Film: “Paper Moon.”
By Claire Barrera
