New Deal Art: "Man and Dog"

Above: "Man and Dog," a sculpture by Seth Velsey (1903-1967), created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1938-1941. This sculpture sits outside the Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, and was involved in a fight between the Dayton Art Institute and the nearby town of Greenhills, a New Deal-established community. Residents of Greenhills said the statue was intended for their community and wanted it placed there. The Dayton Art Institute disagreed. The U.S. Department of Justice was called in to settle the dispute and, apparently, the Dayton Art Institute eventually won (see, e.g., "Dispute over art is carved in stone," The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 8, 2001, pp. B1 and B7). Photo courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Dayton Art Institute.

Above: Another view of "Man and Dog," from 2016. Photo by Carol Highsmith, provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.