72 10 1402 https://openvalley.org/files/original/9edf66f2c9b844a241db4f5ef9a0f84d.jpg ef5a721f26835ec5dd40af67e934ff1c 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." 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. 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 Photograph of watercolor painting 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 Yellow Bouquet Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 757 KB Description An account of the resource A white vase, holding what appears to be baby’s breath and several varieties of marigolds, sits upon a table. Its blaze of yellow, orange, and red overwhelms muted pinks and mauves of the table covering and wallpaper. Rollo accentuates this emphasis through his extemporaneous patterning of the wallpaper, a casual backdrop to the painting’s more detailed flowers. Note: this digital image comes from a photograph taken during the 1990s; the painting has disappeared from the New Deal Gallery. Born Giuseppe Rollo in Ragusa, Italy, he immigrated with his family to the US in 1913 and lived in Chicago (the spelling of his name possibly dating to this time so as to differentiate him from a well-known boxer living in the city). He worked as a newsroom copy boy while studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, then moved to New York in the late 1920s. His work was exhibited in places like the Whitney Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, and at different venues in Woodstock, NY. Based upon extant works, Rollo appears to have moved easily between landscape, still life, and portrait genres. In 1934 the PWAP commissioned him to paint the portrait of Chicago mayor Edward Joseph Kelly (Chicago Tribune 15 Jan. 1934: 4). 3 works at the <a href="https://whitney.org/artists/1112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Whitney Museum of American Art</a>. 3 works at the <a href="https://collections.hvvacc.org/digital/collection/waam/search/searchterm/Rollo%2C%20Joseph/field/creatb/mode/exact/conn/and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Woodstock Artists Association & Museum</a>. 1 work at the <a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.34262.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Gallery of Art</a>. 1 work at <a href="https://www.dia.org/art/collection?keys=rollo&keyword=&start=&end=&sort_bef_combine=search_api_aggregation_6+ASC&Submit+Collection+Search=Search+Collection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Detroit Institute of the Arts</a>. 2 works at the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!?q=%22joseph%20rollo%22&perPage=20&searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&offset=0&pageSize=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a>. 4 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-19-folder-30" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rollo, Joseph “Jo”, 1904-2001 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Federal Art Project 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 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 #FA18255 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 162 Federal Art Project Joseph "Jo" Rollo New Deal Gallery still life https://openvalley.org/files/original/7751f1312d6d5ef3a8c29afa4e9110e6.jpg 1803aaa93412a3ecd30421e259b15f1f 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." 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. 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 Magazine cover Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 8.5 x 11 in. 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 Fish Story Description An account of the resource While the title of this humorous cover art for Liberty magazine is unknown, its editors thought it was appropriate for the backstory to Stephen Ronay's art. "Yes, it happened!" they write; "It simply proves that the war reaches into all walks of life--including the wet and slithery upstream walk of the hitherto sovereign American fisherman" (54).  Noting that the incident occurred near Fort Pine, NY (modern-day Fort Drum), they briefly profile Ronay as a Hungarian immigrant who "made himself into one of America’s foremost landscape painters, the kind that holds one-man exhibitions in famous art galleries." His satirical and humorous cartoons allowed him to "let off steam"--as did fishing and saber-fencing. A comparison to the intense drama of Ronay's The Life Boat, painted for the Federal Arts Project, suggests that his artistic work spanned a wide range of styles and moods. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ronay, Stephen R[obert] , 1900-1983 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Macfadden Publications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1942-04-04 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Liberty 19.14 (4 April 1942): cover <a href="https://archive.org/details/LibertyV19N1419420404/mode/1up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtesy Internet Archive</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 911 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Cartoon Federal Arts Project Liberty Magazine Stephen Ronay World War II https://openvalley.org/files/original/48fd2f614ece27a8def643ca14e38169.jpg 7ab1dadda86b123327d518f2c95c4e0d 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." 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. 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 Magazine cover Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 8.5 x 11 in. 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 Collier's Cover Art Description An account of the resource Three months before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and direct US involvement in World War II, military mobilization was impacting many walks of American life. Here, a satirical cover juxtaposes the scale of an ice cream man--and the simpler life he symbolized--to massive tanks and planes. A pair of eyes peeping out from the tank suggest that the soldier prefers those peaceful times, as well. Stephen R. Ronay was a painter supported by the Federal Art Project during the 1930s, but he was equally adept at gently satirical cartoons like this and another one for the magazine eight months later. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ronay, Stephen R[obert] , 1900-1983 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Crowell-Collier Publishing Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-08-30 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Collier's 108.9 (30 Aug. 1941): cover <a href="https://archive.org/details/colliers108julspri/page/n496/mode/1up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtesy Internet Archive</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 928 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Cartoon Collier's Federal Art Project Stephen Ronay World War II https://openvalley.org/files/original/611f0d05f6832e053e6f3aee6b121adc.jpg 72e4c2738dba8911b3b3a8f7dc48d12b 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 Magazine cartoon Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 8.5 x 5.75 in. 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 Civil Service Wonderland Description An account of the resource By 1943, "stateside" civilian life in the US had been transformed by WWII. The War Production Board had been granted authority to conserve strategic resources, prioritize essential industrial work, and redistribute labor to support the war effort. Created in 1942, it was generally successful in its goals but the massive scope of its mandates also led to mis-allocations and frustrations. Congressman Robert Ramspeck (D-GA) was Chair of the House Civil Service Committee, and dedicated himself to locating inefficiences and wastes of taxpayer money. If it gained publicity, so much the better. "Civil Service Wonderland" was an occassional feature in Collier's that gathered stories of absurd government waste that are a staple of American life. Stephen Ronay's satirical cartoon illustrates a real-life complaint by one civil servant: "I was just one of more than 100 employees in that office, some of them being paid $6,000 and $8,000 a year, all sitting idle, as I was. Yet the walls were covered with pep slogans" (26). Along with many other examples, Ramspeck concluded that a drastic overhaul of the civil service system was necessary. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ronay, Stephen R[obert] , 1900-1983 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Crowell-Collier Publishing Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943-05-15 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Collier's 111.20 (15 May 1943): 26 <a href="https://archive.org/details/colliers111aprspri/page/n519/mode/1up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtesy Internet Archive</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 970 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Cartoon Collier's Stephen Ronay War Production Board World War II https://openvalley.org/files/original/6f048599f59059044e87e5d8d856231e.jpg 89088f561b1008eecb1d7000b7a014a9 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." 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. 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 Magazine cover illustration Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 8.5 x 11 in. 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 Christening the Ship Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ronay, Stephen R[obert] , 1900-1983 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Macfadden Publications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1942-05-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Liberty 2 May 1942: cover Courtesy of Ken Cooper Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 2.4 MB Description An account of the resource A tightly framed composition focuses upon the traditional christening of a new ship, whose size can only be inferred. Unlike a peacetime ceremony, the dignitaries are military and the occasion is serious. Using a limited palette of saturated colors--red, white, and blue almost required--Ronay finds the opportunity to incorporate small details like the anchor pattern on a young woman's dress or the admiral's decorations. Despite the needs of wartime production, Ronay lightens the circumstances with some mild satire: below where a champagne bottle is about to be broken, we see a funnel to catch its precious contents. It's an acknowledgement of wartime scarcity and rationing, along with a stubbornness not to suspend familiar ceremonies. Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Cartoon Federal Art Project Liberty Magazine Stephen Ronay World War II https://openvalley.org/files/original/60116d2063f310228b5c4a1f7649438f.jpg 86901aefabc296293bcaefa5ca2dd9f4 https://openvalley.org/files/original/6ef503275b5d2f2ecc1d35fa7483a42d.jpg 675bdabf9108d178ba63ce8eeda92e15 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." 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. 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 on canvas painting Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 36 x 24 in. 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 The Life Boat Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 1.3 MB jpeg, 1.4 MB Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ronay, Stephen R[obert], 1900 - 1983 Description An account of the resource The Life Boat depicts a small wooden boat in stormy waters, nineteen survivors from an unknown disaster. Some passengers look out at the water, others grasp onto each other, and one figure holds an oar. One person pulls another out of the water. The lifeboat takes up most of the canvas, and is located at a diagonal across the center, with the bow of the boat pointed towards the bottom left corner and the stern to the top right corner. The boat with its inhabitants are the only forms in the painting, coming right up to the edge of the canvas. The painting is filled with movement, from the crashing waves to the drama of a figure being pulled out of the water and the passengers with their arms raised. The background of the painting is a dark blue grey of a stormy sky, while the waves have lots of light blue and white, showing the surge created by the storm. Most of the passengers wear white and red, making them stand out from the blues, greys, and browns of the background. Ronay’s brushstrokes are visible and contribute to the perilous look to the water. The passengers’ faces are minimally detailed, only creating the impression of eyes, noses, and mouths. Overall, everything in this painting contributes to a sense of drama and tension, reminiscent of Winslow Homer’s <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winslow_Homer,_American_-_The_Life_Line_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg#/media/File:Winslow_Homer,_American_-_The_Life_Line_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">The Life Line</a> (1884), as well as Géricault’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa#/media/File:JEAN_LOUIS_TH%C3%89ODORE_G%C3%89RICAULT_-_La_Balsa_de_la_Medusa_(Museo_del_Louvre,_1818-19).jpg">Raft of the Medusa</a> (1819), though Ronay’s painting is much less graphic in content, portraying a scene where the audience can believe everyone is safe, rather than the harsh realities of what might have actually happened. It’s not difficult to envision The Life Boat as an allegory upon America’s social contract during the Great Depression. About the Artist Stephen R. Ronay was born in Arad, Hungary (now Romania) in 1900. He attended the Royal Academy of Design in Budapest, and moved to the United States sometime after that, around 1925, becoming a citizen in 1930. He resided in New York City and Long Island for most of his career, and at some point, he attended the National Academy of Design. Eventually, he moved to Delray Beach, Florida until his death in 1983. His works appeared at the MoMA, Parrish Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Corcoran Gallery, as well as solo exhibitions around New York City and later in Florida. Ronay was a painter, sculptor and lecturer, but most of his remaining viewable works were created as a cartoonist and commercial illustrator. A mordant cartoon for <a href="https://michaelmaslin.com/tuesday-spill-better-late-than-never-w-bradley-a-1933-new-yorker-cartoonist-added-to-the-a-z/">The New Yorker</a> in 1939 makes for an interesting comparison with The Life Boat. In 1940 he created three humorously chaotic <a href="https://openvalley.org/items/show/2185">advertisements</a> the New York Telephone Company, which encouraged calls back home while on vacation. During World War II he created surreal and gently whimsical covers for Liberty magazine (<a href="https://openvalley.org/items/show/2091">1</a>, <a href="https://openvalley.org/items/show/2098">2</a>) and <a href="https://openvalley.org/items/show/2092">Collier’s</a>. In a gentler vein, Ronay provided the illustrations for Edna N. Brown’s book for children entitled How Many Miles to Babylon? (1941). During the 1950s and ‘60s, he continued to create commercial art and exhibit his paintings. One review of a 1966 show used his painting “Van Gogh in Long Island” to make broader claims about that artist’s influence upon Ronay (Margold). 1 work at <a href="https://weisman.emuseum.com/objects/531/race-track?ctx=e62d78ce5b055af0ea7b8d0c24eb7122bccb01a8&idx=0">Weisman Art Museum</a>. 5 images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-19-folder-34">FAP</a>. Work Consulted: Jane Margold, “it’s Motherly Art Whistler Never Could’ve Done,” Newsday 1 July 1966: 83. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Federal Art Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Singer, Ella (description and biography) Helquist, Morgan (photography) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived New Deal Gallery, Mount Morris NY Object #FA 404 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Federal Art Project New Deal Gallery painting Stephen Ronay Théodore Géricault Winslow Homer https://openvalley.org/files/original/97c052588cb8f8c4e13c728d55aad26d.jpg f175d6b4a5c3a8b66d141caf84c6b34e https://openvalley.org/files/original/138b6fd7c4ab95e189b1694abfe273c2.jpg fa3643a648e91e3cfd7648df38d396f7 https://openvalley.org/files/original/0bc137138a58f46007d7e7ebae320b0c.jpg 9ad3fa934c865a33a14d17ed19753809 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 Newspaper advertisement 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 For a Carefree Vacation, Keep in Touch by Telephone Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 2 MB jpeg, 1.8 MB jpeg, 1.7 MB Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived New York Daily News 5 Aug 1940: 56 New York Daily News 13 Aug 1940: 73 New York Daily News 19 Aug 1940: 175 Description An account of the resource During the 1920s-30s, telephone service developed from a luxury facilitated by telephone operators, to a self-dialed consumer necessity. Or so the phone companies suggested. This series of three advertisements from 1940 envisions humorously disastrous fears as to what's happening back home, when an individual is on vacation. The New York Telephone Company lists several vacation spots from which to check up on a slumming husband or malingering employees. Using inflation-adjusted figures, however, a 3-minute phone call from Lake Placied to New York--on an evening or weekend--translates into more than $15.  The illustrations are of interest because they were created by Federal Art Project painter Stephen R. Ronay, whose work <a href="https://openvalley.org/items/show/2096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Life Boat</a> is held by the New Deal Gallery in Mount Morris, NY. While that work is more serious in tone, it shares with much of Ronay's output from this period an interest in vibrant, chaotic scenes involving many people and actions--somewhat in the manner of William Hogarth. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ronay, Stephen R[obert], 1900 - 1983 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available New York Telephone Company Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-08-05 1940-08-13 1940-08-19 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image advertisement Cartoon New York Telephone Stephen Ronay telephone https://openvalley.org/files/original/db07c68ff6d52b2af1180842b30f0b77.JPG 2de69cb67b635b7ccbf91fec5f005c50 https://openvalley.org/files/original/c8b2202e9851411149337ffff21dc99d.JPG eee4fb5912a9a5bd5b11665b20b39e71 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." 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. 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 Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 30 x 36 in. Condition: spotted 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 Playtime Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 1 MB jpeg, 13.2 MB Description An account of the resource In subject matter if not in style, there are resemblances between this painting and Georges Seurat’s famous <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27992/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884">A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884</a>, but even more so William Blake’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Echoing_Green">“The Echoing Green.”</a> Here the spirit seems exuberant as the painting's colored ballons, due perhaps to its “American” setting and youthful subjects. A gently sloping parkland ends alongside a pond occupied by a pair of swans, delighting a young child tended by a watchful nurse. Boys and girls of all ages manifest their play at different stages of childhood, save for two pensive young women: one looks out across the water toward adulthood, the other muses upon the hill. About the Artist: Born in Shelbyville, IN, Ross was the son of German immigrants. He studied with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Forsyth_(artist)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William Forsyth</a>—part of the so-called “Hoosier Group” of painters—then moved to New York in 1905 after receiving a scholarship to study at the Art Students League. By 1911 he had relocated to Paris, working at Académie Julian with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Miller" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard E. Miller</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William-Adolphe Bouguereau</a> at Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Returning to the US ahead of the Great War, Ross located near Washington Square and produced a combination of paintings, privately commissioned <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015082310932;view=1up;seq=434;size=150" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murals</a>, and commercial illustration. In 1935 for the Treasury Relief Art Project, Ross installed a massive, <a href="https://www.indstate.edu/business/artworks/magna-carta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20’ x 20’ painted mural</a> in the Terre Haute, IN courtroom depicting the signing of England’s Magna Carta. First displayed at the Vanderbilt Gallery in New York, the work was praised for the “gay medieval trappings of the nobles and their retainers” while maintaining, for the purposes of a courtroom, a “treatment most dignified and conservative throughout” (New York Sun 28 June 1934: 24). His “Playtime” painting at NDG borrows from murals their organization of bodies in space and a sense of event, even pageantry. In later years Ross became a devout Catholic and painted several more church murals (Pierce). 11 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-19-folder-40" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>. Sources Consulted: Mary Anne Pierce, “U.S. District Court Mural Arouses Curiosity Here,” Terre Haute Tribune 19 Mar. 1972: 26; “Brings Back Work He Painted Abroad,” Indianapolis Star 11 Feb. 1912: 32. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Frederick Webb, 1885-1964 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Federal Art Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-04-12 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived New Deal Gallery, Genesee Valley Council on the Arts Object #FA18256 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 163 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ritz, Abigail (photography) Cooper, Ken (biography) Federal Art Project Fred Ross New Deal Gallery painting https://openvalley.org/files/original/a39c5a4063ab0e13c6de780b0e523640.jpg 843fe462c46a4d8680aa436115c27704 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 Photograph of oil painting 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 View from Ft. Wadsworth Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 174 KB Description An account of the resource Named in honor of Gen. James Wadsworth, killed in the Civil War, this location at the entrance to New York Harbor always has been strategic and featured batteries since Europeans arrived in America. About the Artist: Born in Shelbyville, IN, Ross was the son of German immigrants. He studied with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Forsyth_(artist)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William Forsyth</a>—part of the so-called “Hoosier Group” of painters—then moved to New York in 1905 after receiving a scholarship to study at the Art Students League. By 1911 he had relocated to Paris, working at Académie Julian with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Miller" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard E. Miller</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William-Adolphe Bouguereau</a> at Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Returning to the US ahead of the Great War, Ross located near Washington Square and produced a combination of paintings, privately commissioned <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015082310932;view=1up;seq=434;size=150" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murals</a>, and commercial illustration. In 1935 for the Treasury Relief Art Project, Ross installed a massive, <a href="https://www.indstate.edu/business/artworks/magna-carta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20’ x 20’ painted mural</a> in the Terre Haute, IN courtroom depicting the signing of England’s Magna Carta. First displayed at the Vanderbilt Gallery in New York, the work was praised for the “gay medieval trappings of the nobles and their retainers” while maintaining, for the purposes of a courtroom, a “treatment most dignified and conservative throughout” (New York Sun 28 June 1934: 24). His “Playtime” painting at NDG borrows from murals their organization of bodies in space and a sense of event, even pageantry. In later years Ross became a devout Catholic and painted several more church murals (Pierce). 11 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-19-folder-40" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>. Source Consulted: Mary Anne Pierce, “U.S. District Court Mural Arouses Curiosity Here,” Terre Haute Tribune 19 Mar. 1972: 26; “Brings Back Work He Painted Abroad,” Indianapolis Star 11 Feb. 1912: 32. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Frederick Webb, 1885-1964 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Federal Art Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938-1939 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-19-folder-40" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archives of American Art, Federal Art Project, Photographic Division, Box 19, Folder 40.</a> Federal Art Project Fred Ross James S. Wadsworth New Deal Gallery painting Staten Island https://openvalley.org/files/original/a16201ec9dd80bd5fb021bd64b85d436.jpg 47dbf4d845c3f2b23add2d06651fff70 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 Screenshot of VR map overview 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 Virtual Cabinet of Art and Curiosity Description An account of the resource As the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT explains: "European Cabinets of Art and Curiosity were places of universal learning in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries....They were the museums of their time, offering visitors first-hand knowledge of the far-away world through objects they could see with their own eyes, and touch with their own hands." In 2015 the museum opened their own Cabinet from various materials that had been collected during the 20th century, in particular objects donated by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917. It took an additional step by creating a virtual rendering of the Cabinet that can be viewed online. This screenshot shows an overview map of that synthetic space, which can be viewed by following <a href="https://www.thewadsworth.org/explore/virtual-tours/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this link</a>. It is of interest to OpenValley due to questions about the underlying logic of musuem and gallery spatial tours, which are addressed in the story map <a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b8ffee99687346339977f9c0dad81264" target="_blank" rel="noopener">African Past: Migrant Future</a>. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Roth, Linda Coulon, Francois Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wadsworth Atheneum French American Museum Exchange (FRAME) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=YS3dmtEJDW2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wadsworth Atheneum</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 188 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Cabinet of Curiosity Map Museum Virtual Reality