New Deal Alaska Art (5/5): "Ebb Tide, Juneau" and "Blanket Design of the Haida Indians, Alaska"

Above: "Ebb Tide, Juneau," a painting by Marianne Appel (1913-1988), created while she was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1939. Appel also painted a mural for the Post Office building in Wrangell, Alaska, ca. 1941-1943, again through the Section of Fine Arts. She then went on to have a successful art career as an illustrator of children's books and as a puppet maker for TV shows like The Muppets (see, e.g., "Marianne Appel," Wikipedia). Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Blanket Design of the Haida Indians, Alaska," a 1939 WPA poster by Louis Siegriest (1899-1990). During World War II, Siegriest designed camouflage for the Army Corps of Engineers ("Oral history interview with Louis Siegriest, 1978 June 21," Smithsonian Archives of American Art). Today, the Haida and Tlingit nations of Alaska have united to "Preserve our sovereignty, enhance our economic and cultural resources, and promote self-sufficiency and self-governance for our citizens" ("Our Mission," Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska) and "to respect the sovereign rights of smaller Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) tribes in Alaska" ("About Us"). The Indian Reorganization Act was signed by President Roosevelt in 1934 and, among other things, promoted self-government and land protection for native peoples (see "Indian Reorganization Act, 1934," Living New Deal). Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.