Saturday, December 2, 2017

A New Deal Winter & Christmas: "First Snow" by Neva Coffey

Above: "First Snow," an oil painting by Neva Coffey, created while the artist was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Hardly an information seems to exist on Coffey, but a 2008 newspaper article describes "First Snow": "Youngsters sled and lob snowballs near a modest row of brickfront shops that could be Anytown, U.S.A. But it feels strangely like paradise" ("Brand-new deal: Depression paintings will be restored, get a home of their own in Livingston County," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), March 23, 2008). Image courtesy of the New Deal Gallery in Mount Morris, New York, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: One thing I was able to learn, is that Coffey also worked on the WPA's Index of American Design, an effort to preserve the nation's history through drawings and paintings. The item above is a drawing by Coffey, ca. 1940, showing a whale oil peg lamp. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

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