New Deal Celestial Art (4/5): The lunar and solar art of George Harding

The following three artworks are located in the U.S. Custom House in Philadelphia. They were painted by George Harding (1883-1959), while he was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1938. The images are courtesy of the General Services Administration and Carol M. Highsmith.

 Above: "Phases of the Moon"

Above: "Phases of the Sun"

Above: "Solar Eclipse"

These are just 3 of the 31 paintings that Harding made for the U.S. Custom House. He was paid $12,766 by the Section of Fine Arts - probably somewhere in the neighborhood $200,000 today (Final Report, Section of Fine Arts, p. 25). This amount paid from the public coffers, to decorate a building, might surprise many; but it must be remembered that art and the common good were much more valued during the New Deal than they are today. 

In modern times, we've been trained, like seals flapping our flippers for Lonesome Rhodes, to believe that if something isn't good for millionaires & billionaires then it isn't good at all, and so, not worth doing. This is why so much public and quasi-public architecture is so bland and dreary today - public schools that look like penitentiaries; bridges that look like regular roadway (e.g., no arches, trusses, sidewall designs, or statues); art-free post offices; courthouses with no sculptures; featureless and seemingly prefabricated state park buildings (as opposed to the older CCC-built log cabins & pavilions); and so on. Inspiring art and creative architecture is being eradicated, in order to protect (and secure more) tax breaks for the rich. On the other hand, many millions of Americans have no problem opening up the public purse for a new billion-dollar sports stadium. Why? Because it's good for the millionaire players and the billionaire owners.

Instead of flapping our flippers for the super-wealthy, how about if we invest more in the arts and the common good?

Above: The bold and triumphant architecture of the U.S. Custom House in Philadelphia. This is how they did it back then. According to Professor of History Charlene Mires, the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed $4 million towards its construction - about $77 million in today's dollars (Independence Hall in American Memory, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, p. 187). Photo courtesy of Carol M. Highsmith.