1 10 2 https://openvalley.org/files/original/df165a03bddff6c2af91a0b098723308.jpg 115d78beaf1ca0a380011ca398eb0d5c https://openvalley.org/files/original/bb9fd824ceec74d543d77dbd0e9638b1.jpg 66657e4a9057e1ca033150e3c61114e5 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 Print: 10 1/2 x 14 x 10 1/2 in. Framed: 17 1/4 x 21 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 Headed South Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 1 MB jpeg, 773 KB Description An account of the resource About the Artist Born Mabel Jacque Williamson in Cincinnati, OH, Dwight was one of the more controversial and prolific lithographers of her time. She studied painting at the Hopkins School of Art in San Francisco, CA in her twenties, travelling to Paris, Egypt, India, and other destinations after her studies. She married Eugene Higgins in 1906 before divorcing in 1921, when she changed her last name to Dwight (for reasons unknown). Even before making art full time, she had become a champion of socialist art and ideals, inspired by her time in college. “I was born with a hatred for the duality of poverty and riches,” she recalled. In 1926, at the age of fifty, Dwight began making her first lithographs and by 1928 her work was displayed at the Weyhe Gallery in New York City. Dwight’s main subjects were the ordinary residents of New York City, depicting their lives during 1920s opulence and then the Great Depression. Dwight’s lithographs offered an unflinching, documentary view that was suffused with social commentary. As she later explained, “There are always artists who cannot be satisfied with the credo of art for art’s sake. They must tell stories, express opinions, and ‘take sides’” (“Satire in Art” 151). Dwight observed, however, that the great satirists like William Hogarth rarely made use of “arbitrary distortion,” and her lithographs usually had realistic and inclusive features—such as rounded forms and subtle lighting—that create unity among its subjects. Dwight brought complex social issues to an accessible medium with subtlety and artistic integrity. Dwight was employed by the Federal Art Project (1935-1939) and was a member of the American Artists’ Congress, which championed socialist policies and promoted artists’ rights. By the end of her career in 1941, she had created more than a hundred lithographs collected at a variety of museums and universities. 27 works at <a href="https://whitney.org/artists/388" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Whitney Museum of American Art</a>. 19 works at <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=%22mabel+dwight%22&offset=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a>. 20 works at <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/search/artworks?content_type=artwork&persons%5b%5d=2611" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian American Art Museum</a>. 23 works at <a href="https://www.cartermuseum.org/artists/mabel-dwight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amon Carter Museum</a>. 20 works at <a href="https://www.nga.gov/artists/6498-mabel-dwight/artworks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Gallery of Art</a>. 10 images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-6-folder-37" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>. Works Consulted:Mabel Dwight, “Satire in Art," in Art for the Millions: Essays from the 1930s by Artists and Administrators of the WPA Federal Art Project, ed. Francis V. O'Connor (1973) <a href="https://archive.org/details/artformillionses00ocon/page/151/mode/1up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Link</a>; David Herman. “Mabel Dwight: Art as a Living Influence on the World,” Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (2026) <a href="https://www.villagepreservation.org/2026/03/18/mabel-dwight-art-as-a-living-influence-on-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Link</a>; Library of Congress, Life of the People: Realist Prints and Drawings from the Ben and Beatrice Goldstein collection, 1912-1948 (1999) <a href="https://archive.org/details/lifeofpeoplereal0000unse/mode/2up?q=%22mabel+dwight%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Link</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dwight, Mabel (1876-1955) 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 c. 1935 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Scamardo, Sam (biography) Helquist, Morgan (photography) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY Object #FA 1211 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Federal Art Project lithograph Mabel Dwight Marine Art New Deal Museum https://openvalley.org/files/original/53b74994b3e6f1e6e9499c4cb43b1e31.JPG 9059aa015c7683a7aecf802fd8a23ddb https://openvalley.org/files/original/b173f7ac83739302b9e1b5a1b6220eee.JPG 630f68a61f251000b3d04dec18bc17ce 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 15.5 x 19.5 in. Condition: pin holes, pencil or crayon marks, stained canvas 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 Constitution and the Guerrere Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 964 KB jpeg, 9.6 MB Description An account of the resource This painting depicts a naval battle of consequence, during the War of 1812, between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution_vs_HMS_Guerriere">the USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere</a> some 400 miles southeast of Nova Scotia. The latter ship was only part of a Royal Navy with large numerical advantage, attempting to enforce a blockade upon American merchant ships. In Rodgovin’s composition, we see the defeated English ship set afire and sinking in the foreground—its crew having surrendered and now prisoners aboard the Constitution with the American flag flying proudly. Massed clouds provide a dramatic backdrop. In this the painting is accurate, for its emotional impact proved crucial to public support for the war. About the Artist: Born in London, Rodvogin’s family immigrated to Hartford, CT in 1900. His parents ran a neighborhood grocery store while he drew pictures upstairs and studied with local artist T. J. Thurber. In 1923 Rodvogin received a scholarship to the Art Students League and moved to New York, returning home during the summers. “Then I’d be set for another winter of starvation in New York,” he later recalled (De Bona 111). Not a strong marketer of his own work, Rodvogin made ends meet by selling the occasional photograph or painting, notably a <a href="http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19320104,00.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Time</a> magazine cover in 1932 of  the French Prime Minister Pierre Laval. Like “The Constitution and the Guerrere,” Rodvogin’s other WPA works seem to focus upon historic maritime subject matter: the Mayflower, Battle of Lake Ontario, and so on. During World War II Rodvogin served in the US Navy as an aerial photographer. He returned to New York and then amidst dire straits in the 1950s was invited by the art critic and collector William Ronnick to live as artist-in-residence at a former mansion overlooking Long Island Sound in New London, CT  called the Lighthouse Inn. He continued to paint and lived to be nearly a hundred years old. 1 work at the <a href="https://www.lymanallyn.org/the-gaze-returned-portrait-studio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lyman Allyn Art Museum</a>. 5 more images at <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/federal-art-project-photographic-division-collection-5467/series-1/box-19-folder-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAP</a>. Source Consulted: Joe De Bona, “He’s Losing His Fight Against Success,” Hartford Courant 27 Feb. 1966: 110-111. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rodvogin, Harris (“Harry”), 1897-1998 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 1937-04-27 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 #FA18253 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 160 Federal Art Project Harris Rodgovin Marine Art New Deal Gallery painting