New Deal Tugboat Art (5/5): "Beginning of the Day"

Above: "Beginning of the Day," a drypoint on paper by Louis Lozowick (1892-1973), created while he was in the WPA's art program, 1940. After his death, Lozowick's wife said, "He always did what he wanted to do. He didn't care about prevalent styles, nor about the market. He was doing abstractions when others were doing realist work, and when others were doing abstract things, he was doing realist pieces" ("The Urban Legacy of Louis Lozowick," New York Times, November 15, 1981). Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

New Deal Tugboat Art (4/5): "Tugboats, Pier 17 East River"

Above: "Tugboats, Pier 17 East River," a photograph by Berenice Abbott (1898-1991). Abbott took this photograph while preparing for the 1939 book Changing New York, a work sponsored by the WPA's Federal Art Project. Photo courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Ackland Art Museum.

New Deal Tugboat Art (3/5): "Tug Boat" by Max Kahn

Above: "Tug Boat," a crayon, brush, and tusche lithograph, by Max Kahn (1902-2005), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Max Kahn met his future wife Eleanor Coen (1916-2010) while the two were at the Art Institute of Chicago and also while they worked in the WPA. They married in 1942 and went on to become two of the world's most renown lithographers. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

New Deal Tugboat Art (2/5): "Tug Boats" by Shizu Utsunomiya

Above: "Tug Boats," a watercolor by Shizu Utsunomiya, created while the artist was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1938. I didn't find any information on Utsunomiya on the Internet, however a December 3rd, 1939 edition of the Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper (Ogden, Utah) discussed an exhibit of art at the Utah Art Center in Salt Lake City, consisting of watercolor paintings and photographs, called "Scenes of San Francisco." One of Shizu Utsunomiya's paintings of San Francisco, "Cityscape," was part of the exhibit. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

New Deal Tugboat Art (1/5): "B-20, Tugboats in San Francisco Bay"

Above: "B-20, Tugboats in San Francisco Bay," a watercolor by Dong Kingman (1911-2000) created while he was in the WPA's art program, ca. 1942. While studying art and improving his skills in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Kingman "worked at various jobs, from factory work to employment as a houseboy for a San Francisco family." The WPA offered Kingman one of his earliest opportunities to excel, and he went on to become a prolific artist. His work was eventually sought out by Hollywood and popular magazines (see Kingman's biography here). Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

New Deal Farm and Seafood Markets

Above: All across the United States, New Deal workers built or improved markets to connect farmers & seafood workers to consumers. The "City Market House" above, in Austin, Texas, was built with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA), ca. 1933-1941. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A worker cleans peaches for sale at a farmer's market in Washington, DC, 1939. This photograph was taken by Marjory Collins while she was in the New Deal's Farm Security Administration. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: A farmer's market building, constructed by WPA workers in Valdosta, Georgia, 1938. Photo courtesy of the National Archives and the New Deal Network.

Above: WPA workers also repaired existing market buildings. The description for this photograph reads, "The market modernization program which began in November 1938, has resulted in the construction, reconstruction and remodeling of a number of markets by WPA. This is an exterior shot of the St. Roch Market [New Orleans], more than 100 years old, which has been completely reconditioned and is now in use." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: The PWA was also active in New Orleans. The description for this photograph, ca. 1933-1942, reads, "The modern French Market which was constructed by PWA at New Orleans, LA." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Vegetable booths in the new French Market in New Orleans." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Fish and game, from which New Orleans chefs concoct world famous dishes, are proudly displayed in the New French Market, constructed by PWA, at New Orleans, Louisiana." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Wharf Markets," an egg tempera painting by Victor Hugo Basinet (1889-1956), depicting the seafood markets of Monterey, California, and created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1936. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Manhattan Fulton Fish Market," a wood engraving print by Hendrik J. Glitenkamp (1887-1946), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Market," a watercolor painting by Robert Franklin Gates (1906-1982), depicting a market scene in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and created while he was in the New Deal's Treasury Relief Art Project, 1936. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "The Market," a tempera painting by Virginia Darce (1910-1985), created while she was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1938. Image courtesy of the Portland Art Museum, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Produce Market District in Chicago," described as a "Woodcut in brown on thin cream Japanese paper," created by Adrian Troy (1901-1977) while he was in the WPA, ca. 1935-1943. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: New Deal workers not only built and improved market buildings, but they also built many farm-to-market roads. For example, in 1941, the following was reported: "In the course of six years, ending with June 1941, WPA workers completed the construction or improvement of more than 600,000 miles of roads. The greater part of this mileage represents work on roads in rural areas. Many of these are farm-to-market roads giving farmers all-weather access to markets, schools, and shopping centers" (Federal Works Agency, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1941, p. 4). The scene above shows WPA workers building a farm-to-market road in Iowa, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

New Deal Therapy

Above: "Happy Days," a watercolor by Abraham Mark Datz (1889-1969), created while he was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1940. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Stagnant wages for American workers... crushing student loan debt for college graduates... children drinking lead all across the country... perpetual war in Afghanistan and Iraq... suicide rates rising every year... white nationalists battling counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia... Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un waving their nukes at one another... and a wealthy, ruling elite--in American business and government--that happily kills & injures us for profit, with cigarettes, hyper-marketing of opioids, private prisons, huge investments in missiles & bombs, and other manifestations of their psychopathy.

Sometimes, it's just too much. Fortunately, many New Deal artworks offer therapy for these troubled times by providing immersion into beautiful landscapes, peaceful nature, and the simplicity of childhood. A respite from the madness. 

Above: "Swans in the Land of the Sky Blue Water," a watercolor by Floyd Thornton Martin (1884-1956), created while he was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1940. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Quietude," an oil painting by Edward Firn (1909-1966), created while he was in the New Deal's Treasury Relief Art Project, 1935. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Rifka Telling a Story," a watercolor by Rifka Angel (1899-1988), created while she was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1939. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Winter in the Catskill Mountains," an oil painting by John W. Bentley (1880-1951), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.