Monday, June 17, 2019

A New Deal for our National Zoo: Exhibit background paintings

Above: Domenico Mortelitto (1906-1994) paints a landscape in the National Zoo's Elephant House (Washington, DC), ca. 1936-1937. The New Deal's Treasury Relief Art Project provided the funding for this art. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A background painting for a reptile exhibit at the National Zoo, created by Garnet Jex (1895-1979), while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, ca. 1933-1934. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A closer view of Jex's desert painting. Jex lived at 1214 16th Street NW, Washington, DC, when he painted this background.

Above: A background painting for a lizard exhibit at the National Zoo, created by J. Lee Funk, while the artist was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, ca. 1933-1934. At the time, Funk was living at 1726 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: An exhibit background for the "crocodile lizard" exhibit at the National Zoo, painted by Myrtle Siebenthal, while she was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, ca. 1933-1934. Siebenthal was living at 3434 Oaklawn Terrace NW, Washington, DC, when she painted this artwork. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A background painting for a python exhibit at the National Zoo, by W.C. Kennedy, created while the artist was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, ca. 1933-1934. Kennedy lived at 1505 Lamont Street NW, Washington, DC, at the time. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

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