This painting appears to be a collection of familiar domestic objects: a bowl of fruit and a plant rest upon a deep window sill; another plant is visible outdoors. But is everything in its place? Here, plants on either side of a glass window or glass serving dish point sharply in all directions. Fossil-fueled heat from a radiator is another material connection across the boundaries of inside and outside. About the Artist: Born in Norfolk, VA, Frank spent her early years in Wyoming because her father was a sheep rancher. Perhaps hyperbolically, she recalled that “The sheep froze, and Indians raided the town. I remember seeing Indians over in the hills” (citation). Her family moved to New York in 1913, where Frank studied at the Cooper Union, the Arts Students League, and privately with Stuart Davis. She was a founding member of the New York Society of Women Artists (founded 1925). Expressionist. In 1927 she married artist Ralph Mayer, a specialist in painting materials who published The Painter’s Craft. A lot of information on her, some of it biographical. Signs a declaration published in NYT 26 June 1962 (Cuban Missile Crisis?) on “the certainty of damage through testing and the imminence of catastrophe through miscalculation. We ask, in the name of our posterity, in the name of the unborn generations and of works yet unborn, that the current tests be stopped, never to be resumed” (p. 1). Her watercolor “Salt” appeared in a 1938 FAP exhibit on Long Island, focused upon farms and rural life; fellow NDG artists Louis Harris, Herman Copen, and Thomas Nagai also appeared. The Brooklyn Museum (1930), 1 work at Index of American Design. 3 more images at FAP.
A single lily stem displays two blossoms, with the promise of a third; their colors and shapes run extravagently in all directions. Holding the lily is a crystal vase with a mesmerizing, flame-like pattern. Through its facets we see the lily’s green but also a range of colors drawn from the surrounding wall or atmospheric light. About the Artist: Born in Norfolk, VA, Frank spent her early years in Wyoming because her father was a sheep rancher. Perhaps hyperbolically, she recalled that “The sheep froze, and Indians raided the town. I remember seeing Indians over in the hills” (citation). Her family moved to New York in 1913, where Frank studied at the Cooper Union, the Arts Students League, and privately with Stuart Davis. She was a founding member of the New York Society of Women Artists (founded 1925). Expressionist. In 1927 she married artist Ralph Mayer, a specialist in painting materials who published The Painter’s Craft. A lot of information on her, some of it biographical. Signs a declaration published in NYT 26 June 1962 (Cuban Missile Crisis?) on “the certainty of damage through testing and the imminence of catastrophe through miscalculation. We ask, in the name of our posterity, in the name of the unborn generations and of works yet unborn, that the current tests be stopped, never to be resumed” (p. 1). Her watercolor “Salt” appeared in a 1938 FAP exhibit on Long Island, focused upon farms and rural life; fellow NDG artists Louis Harris, Herman Copen, and Thomas Nagai also appeared. The Brooklyn Museum (1930), 1 work at Index of American Design. 3 more images at FAP.
Sometimes called Low Point, Chelsea, NY is located north of the present-day Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. Dean’s etching shows the ruins of what had once been a thriving Hudson River industry, using mud from seasonal deposits. We see grass in the foreground, possibly of some marshy variety, and a profusion of foliage in various textures reclaiming the brickworks buildings. At far right, a human figure serves to render the scale. About the Artist: Born Robert Jerome Dean in Chattanooga, TN, this NDG artist was primarily a cartoonist. Having attempted to join the circus as a contortionist, Dean moved with his family to Buffalo and eventually studied at the Student Art League. His first job was drawing turf cartoons for Horse World—Buffalo, then editorial cartoons for the Buffalo Times. In 1905 Dean joined the Atlanta News (a city where he lived for several years). Dean was a prolific, sometimes imaginative illustrator at Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus’s Magazine; while working there he created a hybrid fantasy story-comic strip called The Zotwots that was published between 1908 and 1914. When Harris’s magazine folded the strip ran for a short period in the New York Herald. Like many other cartoons of this period, racial humor and minstrelsy sometimes informed Dean’s series. He then moved to New York City to find work where he could as a writer and illustrator: Collier’s magazine, the New York Journal, Herald, and Telegraph Some of his drawings found their way onto lithographs, wooden jigsaw puzzles, and ceramic plates. He spent his last twenty years living in Dutchess County. 2 more images at FAP.
It’s possible that somewhere there is a Sung Harbor represented by this painting, but it’s more likely a typographical misreading of Snug Harbor—just across the water from New York on Staten Island. Sailor’s Snug Harbor was created in 1833 via a bequest from Robert Richard Randall’s estate; merchant seamen with no pensions were given a home in an expanding campus, some of whose dormitories are perhaps depicted in the background. Amemiya manages to fit more than a dozen sailboats into his compositon without it feeling cramped. Gentle wave movement against the sides of the boats, created by small overlapping brush strokes, create a sense of serenity. About the Artist: Born in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, to a high-achieving family, Amemiya (whose name sometimes was spelled as “Amemya”) immigrated in 1908 to Tacoma, WA, where he painted designs on Christmas boxes and worked as a photograph retoucher. He moved to New York City by 1914, where he was encouraged in his art by the architectural photographer John Wallace Gillies. During the 1920s Amemiya was making ends meet via architectural and commercial photography while gaining artistic recognition: “He had his own views on lenses, focussing, composition, development, toning and printing, and the enlargements which he made from his snapshots displayed ever-incrasing grasp of arrangement, lighting, and artistic sensibility” (Arts & Decoration 17 (Oct. 1922): 411). Amemiya’s paintings of “the misty Hudson in early morning” likewise were admired by art collectors, albeit filtered through a racial lens of Orientalism: “Though the familiar heights above Morningside and Harlem are plainly to be recognized, there is a distinctly oriental slant to the view and the sloop with snowy sails might be drifting about the China sea” (Washington Evening Star 29 Oct. 1922: 48). “It is true,” said Amemiya, “that sometimes when I see landscapes and groups of people I see my own country and my own countrymen, and almost inevitably I give them what you call a Japanese atmosphere. I do not think I am wrong to do so, do you?” 1 photograph in Photo-Miniature. 2 photographs in Shadowland.
Six spotted lilies are surrounded by snapdragons, zinnias, and an incongruous “Radio” calendula. This latter flower, along with the lily stamens, appear to have been chosen for their delicate pointed shapes. Most of Alger’s still live is painted in cool grays and pinks, with splashes of hot yellows and orange. About the Artist: The son of Irish immigrants, Alger was born in Boston, MA and studied at the Lowell Institute of Design and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Around 1914, he began dividing his time between Massachusetts and showing his work in New York group exhibitions; a 1921 review of the Whitney Studio Club declared that its “chief interest centers about the technical novelty of John Alger. He has painted some sand dunes with a sweeping grace despite the fact that his colors, always modest, are laid down flatly and without accent” (New York Tribune 18 Dec. 1921: 50). Another admiring critic thought Alger had “developed a point of view which represents the utmost in simplification without, however, becoming in any sense of the word an abstractionist” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 7 Mar. 1926: 66). Alger was a founding member of the Salons of America. In later years, he seems to have taught art lessons in addition to his painting. 5 more images at FAP.
Alger's painting here depicts a lovely still life of a flowery plant which gives off a warm vibe with with its relatively light colors. Green and light red are the prominent colors in this illustration of a species closely related to sunflowers. Circling around the pinkish flower are green leaves, painted with in a realistic style. About the Artist: The son of Irish immigrants, Alger was born in Boston, MA and studied at the Lowell Institute of Design and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Around 1914, he began dividing his time between Massachusetts and showing his work in New York group exhibitions; a 1921 review of the Whitney Studio Club declared that its “chief interest centers about the technical novelty of John Alger. He has painted some sand dunes with a sweeping grace despite the fact that his colors, always modest, are laid down flatly and without accent” (New York Tribune 18 Dec. 1921: 50). Another admiring critic thought Alger had “developed a point of view which represents the utmost in simplification without, however, becoming in any sense of the word an abstractionist” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 7 Mar. 1926: 66). Alger was a founding member of the Salons of America. In later years, he seems to have taught art lessons in addition to his painting. 5 more images at FAP.
This view adopts some several conventions of folk painting: a non-linear perspective, extremely simplified renderings of structures and people; and a “coverage” of the scene that feels complete. The style was one of several for Nichols. Perhaps most intriguing here is a network of lines, or tributaries, that link together disparate elements. Smoke from a house at bottom reaches a vegetable plot, but goes no further; the trunk of a large tree at center continues upward as a road, and its branches all serves as “paths” to different objects in the painting. The washline at bottom left is just one of many lines. About the Artist: Born in Maywood, IL, Nichols came from a wealthy family and at times struggled to find his own artistic voice. He trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Students League. While studying at the Louvre, Paris in 1930, he became friends with the expatriate writer Henry Miller and painted his portrait with the Eiffel Tower in the background. For his part Miller wrote, hyperbolically, that “I feel convinced, when talking to [Nichols] that I am standing in the presence of a genius. I can see in him another Van Gogh, or better.[...] Nichols is a deeply cultured guy, a rich, ripe guy of the autumnal cities, a man of feeling, of intuition, of instinct, but also of great intellect, and of great ego...charming ego...charming effrontery. The child-man, the wonder-man, soft-voiced, musical, sure, suave, convincing, and never-ending” (Cosmodemonic). Not coincidentally Miller observed that a private income freed Nichols “to do what he wants,” which may be why one gallery owner recalled Nichols asking only $5 for his paintings: “I would say, ‘John, I can't give you $5. I’ll give you $20 for it.’ He'd say, ‘I can't accept that’...And whatever happened to John Nichols I don't know, but he painted in a Matisse-like manner and then went off to his own approach....He had marvelous reviews. I think money was not really the thing” (“Oral History”). Nichols’ work was exhibited throughout the 1930s and ‘40s at various galleries in Woodstock, NY, where he maintained a studio. His painting “Buzz Saw” was selected for the “New Horizons in Art” exhibit, MoMA (1936). He exhibited at the Federal Art Show, Woodstock, along with NDG artists Erna Lange, Leon Foster Jones. Ahead of a 1936 solo show at Sawkill Gallery, a press released described Nichols like this: “In spite of his conventional background and training he is somewhat of a rebel against established tradition” (Kingston Daily Freeman 24 July 1936: 6). 6 works at Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. Sources Consulted" Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company: A Henry Miller Blog; (“Oral History Interview with Bernard Braddon and Sidney Paul Schectman, 1981 October 9,” Archives of American Art).
Possibly inspired by a time spent farming in Massachusetts, Nesin’s painting radically flattens the landscape into a tapestry: sky and trees cascade down toward cows behind a fence at bottom. Somewhat abstracted forms give a pleasing roundness and regularity to nature. Nesin appears to set against this a few eccentric details, like a pair of boulders or a crooking fence rail, in the service of visual tension. About the Artist: Born in Krasilov, Russia (modern-day Ukraine), Nesin immgrated to the US in 1902 and received citizenship in 1911. He seems to have been trained as an engraver, although for a period during the 1930s worked as a farmer in Massachusetts with his brother Morris. He exhibited at the Federal Art Project Gallery (1936). Nesin’s painting “Sawing Wood for Winter” appears in a heartbreaking 1944 Life magazine story on the decision by Colonel Brehon Somervell, the New York WPA administrator, to sell off completed canvases by the pound to a junk dealer. Throughout all these years—and until the end of his life—Nesin was a passionate debater of political issues. As a member of the Socialist Party, he advocated for old age pensions and against conscription during the Great War (he spent six months in jail for speaking on a street corner). Later, with the rise of fascism, he advocated for US vigilance and filled out a draft registration card at age 52. By the end of his life he had renounced socialism: “We walk with the code of Civilization: The Ten Commandments and the great Hebrew Prophets who were every bit Conservative” (New Guard April 1962: 19). 1 more image at FAP.
Striking design maintains accurate details of common marigolds in a glass vase or jar, while experimenting with simplified blocks of color. The nearly monochromatic background is variegated using brushstrokes and different thicknesses of paint. Nash’s decision to use a clear vase adds complexity and may be the still life’s most distinctive feature. About the Artist: Born in Sparta, WI, Genevra Ingersoll (her name a source of many spelling variants) came from a family of freethinkers, including her uncle Robert G. Ingersoll—known as “The Great Agnostic” and one of America’s most popular orators of the day who counted as a friend the poet Walt Whitman. Ingersoll was educated by tutors and showed a talent for painting; however, her first career was on the stage, beginning in the Midwest, then on Broadway in shows like Arizona (1900) and Unleavened Bread (1901). She married the actor George F. Nash in 1888 and began dividing her time between America and England in 1902, about the time her interests drifted away from the commercial theater. Nash collaborated with the novelist and early filmmaker Sir Gilbert Parker; performed readings in London from the poetry of Oliver Herford, “the American Oscar Wilde”; and wrote an introduction to fairy tales for the Consolidated Encylopedic Library. Her drawing-room readings made use of magic lantern slides she had painted herself. At this point, according to a later profile, Nash was encouraged to develop her talent for painting; she studied in Paris with Max Bohm and Lucien Simon and then had a studio in Rome for eight years (Rohe). During the Great War she remained in Europe, painting among other works the striking “View of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London” under attack from a 1915 Zeppelin bombing. 2 more images at FAP. Sources Consulted: “Women’s Clubs,” Brooklyn Life 8 Jul. 1905: 16; Alice Rohe, “Genevra Ingersoll,” Latrobe Bulletin 20 Mar. 1935: 3. Orison Swett Marden, ed., The Consolidated Encyclopedic Library, Vol. 5 (Emerson Press, 1903): 1213-1215.
An alert jay sits upon a tree branch in the foreground, with billow of leaves or some other foliage in the midground. In the distance, we see the turret of a large building. Nakamizo’s decision to render this scene as an engraving turns it into a study of patterns, both upon the bird and in its habitat. At lower left is text indicating it was created for the Federal Art Project. About the Artist: Born in Fukuiken, Japan, Nakamizo—whose name sometimes was spelled “Fugi”—immigrated to the US in 1907, living in Grand Rapids, MI and working as a decorator. He later moved to New York and studied at the Art Students League with Frank DuMond and Joseph Pennell. During the early 1920s, he appears to have created an etching of the medical researcher Dr. Hideyo Noguchi that hung in the Nippon Club, New York (Piper). By the 1930s he was fairly well known, especially for his etchings of birds, and exhibited at places like the League Gallery (1933), Montross Gallery (1934), the Brooklyn Museum (1935), the Art Institute of Chicago (1935); and the Carl Fischer Gallery (1936). In 1936 he contributed photographs and illustrations to feminist author Baroness Shidzue Ishimoto’s East Way, West Way: A Modern Japanese Girlhood. In 1943, Nakamizo’s etching “Emblem of Strength and Courage” was chosen for a national exhibition sponsored by the group Artists for Victory; this painting of an American eagle surrounded by warplanes may have been ironic, since some sources place him at a Japanese internment camp during World War II. 2 works at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 3 works at Lowe Art Museum. 6 works at Queens Library. 1 work at the National Gallery of Art. 6 more images at FAP. Sources consulted: Jean Piper, “Scientist Acts Like Human Dynamo,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle 6 Mar. 1927: 85; Ellen G. Landau, Artists for Victory: An Exhibition Catalog (Library of Congress, 1983).