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https://openvalley.org/files/original/72d299548dc110f9a1b3da066064e54c.jpg
9baf94d5b1d41bd825b35830a0dfd841
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
New Deal Gallery
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of more than 200 paintings owes its existence to two primary causes: allocations from the Federal Art Project to a New York state tuberculosis sanatorium located at Mt. Morris--the landscapes and still lifes were thought to be restful--and to the committed volunteers who helped preserve the paintings after the hospital closed. For several decades the canvases were stored in non-climate-controlled basements; it appears that doctors and staff removed at least three dozen works as "keepsakes." <br /><br />Despite the seeming tranquility of the paintings, they were created by artists primarily from New York City whose background was more political and aesthetically adventurous than this rural location would indicate. <a href="https://openvalley.org/exhibits/show/green-new-deal/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow this hyperlink to a short introduction to the New Deal Gallery collection</a>. We're grateful to the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts for access to their collection, which has been re-photographed and appears here at two resolutions: a cropped, web-friendly file size of around 1 MB; and a high-resolution file including the painting's frame.<br /><br />Items in this collection were created according to a consistent format: a short description of each painting in formal terms, followed by a biography of each artist. Where possible we have supplied hyperlinks relevant to their lives and to other examples of their art. In order to better view them using the Omeka program, click on the "View All" option at the bottom of this page to access various sorting options.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935-1940
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Cooper, Ken (project director)
Ritz, Abigail (photography and project assistant)
Additional research: Justin Anderson, Jessica Apthorpe, Jay Bang, Kristopher Bangsil, Julia Caldwell, Sydney Cannioto, Sabrina Chan, Paige Closser, Victoria Domon, Elana Evenden, Yadelin Fernandez, Michael Griffin, Madison Jackson, Niamh McCrohan, Ben Michalak, Ricky Noel, Elizabeth Ramsay, Skye Rose, Samantha Schmeer, John Serbalik, Marianna Sheedy, Emily Spina, Alison Stern, Ravenna VanOstrand, and Nicholas Vanamee.
Special thanks to: Deborah Bump, Mark Calicchia, Elizabeth Harris, Melissa Moody, Rebecca Lomuto, and Mai Sato.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data
Oil painting
Photograph
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
Oil painting: 30 x 24 in.
Photograph: 6 x 4 in.
Condition: stolen
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
December in Venice
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg, 1.3 MB
Description
An account of the resource
In 2008 this painting, loaned for exhibition at the Mills Mansion, Mt. Morris, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Depression-Treasures-Hunting-for-WPA-Paintings-275523541.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was stolen</a> and has yet to be recovered. The digital image shown here has been scanned from a photographic print. Although the location of this bridge is not known—there are some 400 in Venice—it evokes a pleasing range of saturated and pale colors, sunlit highlights and shadowy walkways. On the canal we see a <em>gondolier</em> and three red and white <em>pali da casada </em>(“poles of the family”) marking a distinct location. Everything a view might want of Venice is here in Polowetski’s painting.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;">About the Artist</span>: Born in Bielsk, Poland, Polowetski immigrated to the US in 1892. He grew up in New York city amidst harrowing conditions; when ten years old and a ward of the Deborah Nursery and Child’s Protectory—which provided day care for poor working parents—Polowetski and two other boys were “locked in the cellar of the institution and after being flogged tied to gas pipes and left prisoners in the dark hole” (“He Flogged the Children”). Given this childhood his subsequent career is remarkable: at age sixteen he studied with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frederick_Blum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert Frederick Blum</a> at the National Academy of Design, then in 1903 after receiving a scholarship with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Bonnat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Léon Bonnat</a> at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. In Paris <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/chronology-r1107098" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he became friends</a> with painters like Bernard Gussow and Samuel Halpert, exhibited at the Salon d’Automne, and eventually maintained a studio up to and during the Great War before fleeing in 1915. Plowetski’s efforts at returning to France in 1919 reveal efforts on his behalf by fellow painters <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Elmer_Browne" target="_blank" rel="noopener">George Elmer Browne</a> and <a href="https://portsmouthhistorynotes.com/2017/04/07/oscar-miller-bristol-ferry-artist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oscar Miller</a>. Polowetski was a member of the Salmagundi Club and, while in Paris, of the American Art Association. His vivid landscapes and portraits were exhibited in American venues like the Corcoran Gallery, the Salons of America, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In all likelihood he made his living as a portraitist, receiving commissions by bank officers, industrialists, university presidents, governors, and the like; among his FAP works is one of the pilot and explorer Floyd Bennett, for whom a New York airport was named. In 2008 Polowetski’s NDG painting “December in Venice,” loaned for exhibition at the Mills Mansion, Mt. Morris, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Depression-Treasures-Hunting-for-WPA-Paintings-275523541.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was stolen</a> and has yet to be recovered. After World War II Polowetski moved to Santa Fe and began painting in the American southwest, then lived the final years of his life in California. 1 work at the <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07441/charles-ezekiel-polowetski?role=art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Portrait Gallery, UK</a>. 5 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-18-folder-30" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Polowetski, Charles Ezekiel, 1884-1955
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Federal Art Gallery
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1937
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ritz, Abigail (photography)
Cooper, Ken (biography)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
New Deal Gallery, Genesee Valley Council on the Arts
Object #FA18242
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
149
Charles Polowetski
Federal Art Project
New Deal Gallery
painting
Venice, Italy