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https://openvalley.org/files/original/49381f46d781d37193b0bc7b3a51c5bf.JPG
0d8df6002cb1bb0113e83c1cdabd828b
https://openvalley.org/files/original/b74bcb7db79a850c83f30e7df55eb0d6.JPG
cb3398f0b23592dd471bacf8d6ecba31
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
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
30 x 38 in.
Condition: surface dirt
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
From the Mid-Country Highway
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg, 974 KB
jpeg, 13.8 MB
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The location of this painting isn’t clear: there’s no identifiable “mid-country highway,” and a “mid-county” highway in Maryland doesn’t seem to fit the landscape. Here, we look at hilly terrain under a cloudy sky that have rendered the mountaintops very dark. A driveway in the foreground leads to a road, whose unpaved status either renders Powell’s title somewhat ironic or implies that we are looking <em>from</em> a newer road upon this simpler tableau. A farm and fields is visible in the midground, and another further in the distance. The colors here all are muted fall earthtones, no blazing foliage.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br />About the Artist</span>: Born in Van Wert, OH, Powell traveled and painted the American landscape at a young age, a pattern followed through much of his life. At age 15 it was a trip to Portland, OR, and San Francisco, eventually resulting in his enrollment at the San Francisco School of Design. Powell later studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts; Académie Julian, Paris; and with the classicist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Toudouze" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Édouard Toudouze</a> and portraitist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Ferrier" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gabriel Ferrier</a>. He painted lakes in Glacier National Park, mountains in Idaho, town squares in France, and street scenes in New York. “Every time I got a couple hundred dollars in hand I’d strike out for some new place,” he later said (“Artist”). Although Powell’s specialty was landscape paintings, sometimes he experimented with engravings, woodblock prints, or allegorical material: massive, eight-by-twelve-foot mural paintings of “Second Birth of Christ” and “The Sermon on the Mount” for the Dover Plains Methodist church. By this point Powell had made his home in Dover Plains, NY introduced to the area by his long-time artist friends G. Glenn Newell, Harry Franklin Waltman, and Walter C. Hartson. The mountainous rural environs of Dutchess County often were the subject of their landscapes. Powell was awarded various prizes for his paintings, a member of the Salmagundi Club and in 1937 elected to the National Academy of Design. But he is perhaps best remembered in his local community, having donated paintings to schools and firehouses, mentored local artists, and served as president of the art association. Just prior to his death Dover Plains named Powell Road in his honor. 1 work at the <a href="https://emuseum.hydecollection.org/objects/4251/winter-landscape?ctx=b2865c76-5eb0-4301-89b1-6da57033bab5&idx=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hyde Collection</a>. 1 more image at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-18-folder-35" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sources Consulted</span>: “Dover Church Gets Painting,” <em>Poughkeepsie Eagle-News</em> 26 Sept. 1932: 2; “Four Artists, Close Friends and Neighbors in County, Show Paintings at Gallery,” <em>Poughkeepsie Journal </em>20 Jan. 1946: 11; “ ‘Artist Should Please Himself,’ Maintains Dover Plains Painter,” <em>Poughkeepsie Journal </em>21 June 1953: 6A.</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Powell, Arthur J[ames] E[mery], 1864-1956
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 #FA18241
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
148
Arthur J. S. Powell
Federal Art Project
Landscape Art
New Deal Gallery
painting