America Works

In the early part of the 20th century, when the country was undergoing such a difficult economic time, American artists focused their attention on the figure at work. In an effort to get people working again during the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Works Project Administration (WPA) in 1935. A subset of the WPA was the Easel Project. This program gave professional artists a monthly stipend and the materials they needed to continue to produce their art. As a result, many artists, given the freedom to work and record what was happening around them, chronicled Americans' efforts to get the country working again. Of equal interest to many artists of this period were the visually powerful qualities of the tools, machines, and factories built and used by the workers. More than 45 works in this exhibition are divided into two time frames. The earlier period begins with the 1927 painting "Elevators, New Paris, Ohio" by Lawrence McConaha, which was painted just before the Great Depression began. "Sorghum Mill," a 1969 lithograph by Thomas Hart Benton, concludes this earlier period of work. Other works from this period (between 1927 and 1969) are by iconic artists James Allen, Thomas Hart Benton, Louis Lozowick, and Grant Wood. There are also important works by lesser known artists such as Dorothy Dennison and Edmond F. Ward. The later period includes works from 1980 through the present. A series of three dimensional paper constructions depicting baseball players titled "Sliding Series" by Kim MacConnel was produced in 1980. The most current work is a 2005 pastel of the Manhattan Lord and Taylor jewelry department titled "11 a.m." by Brian Cobble. Other highlights include a large early painting of the S&D Oyster Bar by David Bates, a monumental drawing of a cattle drive by Woodrow Blagg, and a masterpiece of silkscreen printing titled "D Train" by Photorealist Richard Estes. There are also photographs by Bank Langmore, James W. Westerfield, and Laura Wilson. In the uneasy economic times of the last year, these images take on a new and unexpected relevance. They serve not only to remind us of how we got through one of the most difficult economic times in America's history, but that our nation, through hard work, was able to get the economy back on track and the country moving forward again.