About
Until the mid-twentieth century, tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in human history, and globally it remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Starting in the late 1880s, sanatoriums were built in rural locations to treat people suffering from the “white death.” Patients moved from cities because fresh air and bed rest were believed to aid the healing process. The Trudeau Sanatorium at Saranac Lake, one of the nation’s leading research and treatment facilities, was in such demand that additional “cure cottages” were constructed in the area. But in those times admission was limited to self-financing patients, leading to great disparities in medical care.
The rise of treatment accessibility, dubbed the “sanitorium movement,” coincided with the Great Depression. In New York state, three major new facilities were built during the 1930s, including one on Murray Hill in Mount Morris. This exhibit explores the intersection of that medical transformation and the Federal Art Project (FAP), another New Deal program whose paintings sometimes were allocated to hospitals and sanatoria—more than 250 to the Mount Morris Tuberculosis Hospital alone. “Among the details which require attention are the proper selection of subjects, composition and colors,” wrote the New York superintendent of tuberculosis hospitals. “Considerable latitude exists for the selection of appropriate subjects which should be neither too stimulating nor too depressing. Moreover, many of the more intense examples of so-called modern art should be avoided.” His explicit style guide seems to have influenced the constituion of Mount Morris's original collection.
Amidst established perceptions of what was considered healthy, the art of landscapes and everyday life became a window to the outside world, mimicking a sensation of being outside while inspiring hope. It was widely considered effective in managing symptoms and curing patients. But artists didn’t limit themselves only to idealized pictures; sometimes, like Harold Anchel, they showed the grim, realistic experience of suffering. More broadly, visual artists engaged with cultural norms of personal and social health; strength and vulnerability; labor and rest. Due to the high mortality rate of tuberculosis, artists even showed the socio-economic issues concerning who could afford treatment or a proper burial. While the disease is much rarer now than during the 1930s, those earlier issues unfortunately remain problematic in our modern healthcare system. Who gets to heal?
Credits: Victoria Coppola, Bella Alessi, Ryan Seubert, Kenna Donalty, Paige Loucks, Dominic Rivera.