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https://openvalley.org/files/original/59aed509e70844cd4407ae081c5bcf51.jpg
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https://openvalley.org/files/original/4341edab5affe7a3ecc284330fdae991.JPG
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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
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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
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Oil on Canvas
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
30 x 24 in.
Condition: canvas slightly dented
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
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Deserted Wharf
Description
An account of the resource
Cool blues and greens dominate much of Sharp’s landscape, creating a sharp contrast against the red of the barn and sails. A body of water surrounding the wharf clearly is too small for any boats and seems to be drying up. The rolling hills and mountains in the background make the area feel vast and somewhat empty. There are no people within the painting, although there are a few structures that could be houses—one of which has a gravestone—and what appears to be a church spire. Strangest of all is a fenced-in pasture with dinosaurs.<br /><br />
<p><u>About the Artist: </u>Born in Galesburg, IL, Sharp grew up in Eldon, IA and showed a talent for art at an early age, matriculating at the University of Iowa in 1928. While a student he met curator Edward Rowan and painter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Wood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grant Wood</a>, both of whom would become important figures in the regional art movement, co-founding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_City_Art_Colony" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stone City Art Colony</a>. At age nineteen, taking Wood on a driving tour of Eldon, Sharp showed him the house that would figure in the iconic painting <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Gothic</a></em>. Sharp studied at the Stone City colony for a short period before relocating to New York, where he attended the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. It was during this period in the early 1930s that Sharp met his lifelong partner, the painter <a href="http://www.askart.com/artist/Paul_Crosthwaite/121992/Paul_Crosthwaite.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paul Crosthwaite</a>. The two relocated to an established art scene in Buck’s County, PA. Besides his work in the WPA easel division, Sharp was chosen to create three murals for post offices in Iowa: <a href="https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-mural-bloomfield-ia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Autumn”</a> (1940), in Bloomfield; <a href="https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-mural-rockwell-city-ia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Summer”</a> (1941), in Rockwell City; <a href="https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/hawarden-post-office-mural-hawarden-ia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Winter”</a> (1942), in Haywarden. While all show the regionalist influence of Wood, Sharp also had a distinctive sense of humor. His painting <a href="https://bucksco.michenerartmuseum.org/bucksartists/image/645/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“We All Hang Together”</a> mashes up domestic folk art and a Benjamin Franklin epigram; his landscape painting at the NDG features what appears to be a herd of cows but actually is dinosaurs. Still, his taste for surreality did not stand in the way of commercial success. Sharp was called “a skillful factualist who loves the textures of barns, flowers, leaves, shells, and old roots” (Benson). He was commissioned to render portraits of New York theater actors; his paintings were chosen for a traveling Hallmark Art Award exhibition (1951) and appeared on the cover of <em>Colliers </em>magazine (“P.O. Mural”). Sharp and Crosthwaite moved to Florida full-time by the mid-1950s, continuing their work while instructing younger artists. 3 works at <a href="https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection-artist/john-sharp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts</a>. 3 <a href="https://livingnewdeal.org/artists/john-sharp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post office murals</a> for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. 1 work at <a href="https://chrysler.emuseum.com/objects/37648/untitled?ctx=ab112bf1-8a18-4eee-ad47-7ee4aee14dd0&idx=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chrysler Museum of Art</a>. 1 work at <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/artist/john-o-robert-sharp-4393" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian American Art Museum</a>. 2 works at the <a href="https://bucksco.michenerartmuseum.org/bucksartists/artist/243/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michener Art Museum</a>. 5 images at <a href="https://projects.mtmercy.edu/stonecity/otherartists/sharp.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stone City Art Colony</a>. 6 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-21-folder-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Works Consulted</span>: Gertrude Benson, “Dynamic Oils and Sculpture at Academy,” <em>Philadelphia Inquirer</em> 25 Jan. 1953: 17; “P.O. Mural is Hung Tuesday,” <em>Haywarden Independent</em> 28 May 1942: 1; Kristy Raine, <em>et al.</em>, <a href="“John%20Sharp,”">“John Sharp,”</a> <em>Stone City Art Colony and School</em>, web.</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sharp, John, 1911-1966
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
1937-03-12
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ritz, Abigail (photography)
Schmeer, Samantha (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 #FA18268
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg, 1.3 MB
jpeg, 16.8 MB
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
175
1930s
Federal Art Project
Iowa
John Sharp
landscape
New Deal Gallery
painting
wharf