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https://openvalley.org/files/original/b838e78a406628baffd89ef047b5598d.JPG
20be8b27da0af7b3cb5db3c572f3b02b
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
24 x 30 in.
Condition: pitted, pen marks, 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
Red Clown
Description
An account of the resource
A clown dressed in a red costume and ruffled collar holds up a game of Tic-Tac-Toe to play with a dog—or is it a pig, given the body shape and curly tail? Behind them, a large crowd under a big-top tent watches the two perform. It’s not entirely clear what the clown’s gesture signifies, nor what the animal is supposed to do next. Willmott imparts colorful detail to the clown’s eyes, face and makeup, to the props of his trade. As with the work of fellow NDG artist Gerrit Hondius, there may be overtones of social criticism in circus paintings during the Great Depression. <br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;">About the Artist</span>: Born in New York to immigrants from England, Willmott grew up in Queens and studied at the Hartford Art School during the early 1930s. His varied subject matter and style was criticized, at a 1932 exhibit, for “going in too many directions at once....Each canvas is almost a new departure from every other one” (<em>New York Evening Post </em>12 Mar. 1932: 3). Such eclecticism may have been better suited for commercial illustration, as in a puzzle book by F. E. Menaker entitled <em>How Smart Are You? </em>(1935). There may have been other such work not yet identified. 5 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-24-folder-17" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Willmott, Cyril, 1907-1968
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
1937-08-24
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ritz, Abigail (photography)
Evenden, Elana (biography)
Cooper, Ken (biography)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
New Deal Gallery, Genesee Valley Council on the Arts
Object #FA18366
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg, 1.2 MB
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
194
Circus
Cyril Willmott
Federal Art Project
New Deal Gallery
painting