1 10 1 https://openvalley.org/files/original/5de1c225808b362a8970e3b04c1aba0b.jpg 49f45be47ba23d9bc8ee2b80724f6622 https://openvalley.org/files/original/62feed3e8e1671e46871a6a0a1bc3340.jpg 824bb1407403829bb68a315cd0e777fb 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 Lithograph on paper Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 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 River Front Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 1.7 MB jpeg, 843 KB Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weiner, Isadore (1910 - ?) 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 Cooper, Ken (description and biography) Helquist, Morgan (photography) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY Object #FA 1553 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Description An account of the resource Harshly contrasting light values depict a factory of some kind, comprised of buildings, machinery, smokestacks, and mounds of an unidentifiable substance. The black & white lithograph’s upper third is framed by billowing smoke, the bottom portion by raw materials and the plant creating all the pollution. In the center is another, brightly lit pile of raw materials and seemingly our only glimpse outside of the factory. Weiner’s title is darkly ironic, for there’s no river to be seen... just this and other factories depending upon the waterway for transportation. The artist also created other visions of Great Lakes industry with sharply different tones, like his colorful <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/126966/spring-and-industry">Spring and Industry</a> (1939). About the Artist There is conflicting information about the life of this Federal Art Project lithographer. It’s agreed that he was born 1910 in Chicago, studied at the Art Institute in that city, and shared studio space with fellow lithographers <a href="https://www.artic.edu/collection?artist_ids=Max+Kahn">Max Kahn</a>, <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/search/artworks?content_type=artwork&persons%5b%5d=6108">Misch Kohn</a>, and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/collection?artist_ids=Eleanor+Coen">Eleanor Coen</a>—a less structured arrangement than the centralized Graphic Arts Division in New York City. Carl Zigrosser suggests that “most of the graphic work was apprentice work, that is to say, steps toward the mastery of technique and méitier,” although to be kinder the group was very experimental and ambitious. His work appeared at group shows in the city (<a href="https://archive.org/details/per_chicago-daily-tribune_1938-06-16_97_143/page/n15/mode/1up?q=%22isadore+weiner%22">1</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/sim_artnews_1940-03-23_38_25/page/n12/mode/1up?q=%22isadore+weiner%22">2</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/per_chicago-daily-tribune_1941-03-02_100_9/page/n101/mode/1up?q=%22isadore+weiner%22">3</a>), and at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York (Jewell). At this point the narrative diverges. <a href="https://archive.org/details/whowaswhoinameri0003unse/page/3501/mode/1up">Who Was Who in American Art</a> holds that Weiner “committed suicide after 1940, perhaps in Chicago” and the Metropolitan Museum of Art still gives his life dates as 1910-1940. Most other institutions, however, have Weiner relocating to California until his death in 1964. If so, then a household under that name and his wife, Grace, were living in Burbank as of 1950 (US Census). That Isadore Weiner gave his occupation as freelance artist and packaging designer—still adjacent to lithography, but perhaps in a more commercial vein. The problem with this supposition is that of an apparent father living next door with a different name than Chicago census records. It seems safest to state only that Weiner was born in Chicago, and produced challenging lithographs for the Federal Art Project. 21 works at <a href="https://www.artic.edu/collection?artist_ids=Isadore+Weiner">Art Institute of Chicago</a>. 8 works at <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/search/artworks?content_type=artwork&persons%5b%5d=6108">Smithsonian American Art Museum</a>. 9 works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 5 images at <a href="https://art.gsa.gov/people/2645/isadore-weiner/objects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GSA</a>. Works Consulted: Carl Zigrosser, Misch Kohn (American Federation of Arts, 1961) <a href="https://archive.org/details/mischkohn0000carl/mode/1up">Link</a>; Peter Hastings Falk, ed. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1974, vol. 3 (Sound View, 1999): 3501; 1950 US Census for Burbank, Los Angeles Co., California d.E.D. #62-79 <a href="https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/62146189?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a226378486c684d6f6679747a695a6f554e53357643385836716a714d6d3936785a6a4b627765486f762f55773d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d">Link</a>; Edward Alden Jewell, “American Art at the World’s Fair,” New York Times 26 May 1940: 149 <a href="https://nyti.ms/4a73H0H">Link</a>. Federal Arts Project industrialization Isadore Weiner lithograph New Deal Museum