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Exhibitions
1934: A New Deal for Artists
February 27, 2009 – January 3, 2010
Buy the 1934 exhibition catalogue
Watch our 1934 Exhibition Slide Show
Visit our Picturing the 1930s educational Web site
Read exhibition-related posts on the Museum's blog Eye Level
Explore artworks nationwide through our Mapping 1934 feature
Add your images from 1934 to our Flickr group
Attend our exhibition-related programs
Take an illustrated tour of the exhibition with Co-Curator Ann Wagner (via Quicktime or iTunes).
Recent news stories about the exhibition
See if the exhibition tour stops in your hometown
Ross Dickinson, Valley Farms, 1934, oil on canvas, 39 7/8 x 50 1/8 in. (101.4 x 127.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
In 1934, Americans grappled with an economic situation that feels all too familiar today. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration created the Public Works of Art Project—the first federal government program to support the arts nationally. Federal officials in the 1930s understood how essential art was to sustaining America's spirit. Artists from across the United States who participated in the program, which lasted only six months from mid-December 1933 to June 1934, were encouraged to depict "the American Scene." The Public Works of Art Project not only paid artists to embellish public buildings, but also provided them with a sense of pride in serving their country. They painted regional, recognizable subjects—ranging from portraits to cityscapes and images of city life to landscapes and depictions of rural life—that reminded the public of quintessential American values such as hard work, community and optimism.
1934: A New Deal for Artists celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Project by drawing on the Smithsonian American Art Museum's unparalleled collection of vibrant artworks created for the program. The paintings in this exhibition are a lasting visual record of America at a specific moment in time. George Gurney, deputy chief curator, organized the exhibition with Ann Prentice Wagner, curatorial associate.
Book
A catalogue, fully illustrated in color and co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and D Giles Ltd. in London, features an essay by Roger Kennedy, historian and director emeritus of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History; individual entries for each artwork by Ann Prentice Wagner; and an introduction by the museum's director Elizabeth Broun. The book is available online and in the museum store for $49.95 (softcover $34).
Flickr Group
The Museum has created a Flickr group to share the nearly 400 artworks and related objects dated 1934 from its collection. New images are added each week. The group contains a set with the paintings on view in the exhibition, and images added by the public who join the group. Check out the growing list of images, comment on your favorites, or add your own images to the group!
Picturing the 1930s
This educational Web site, created by the Museum in collaboration with the University of Virginia, allows online visitors to explore the 1930s through paintings, artist memorabilia, historical documents, newsreels, period photographs, music, and video in a virtual, 3-D movie theater. Visitors to the site can use these materials to create a documentary video and submit it to the virtual theater. New content will debut throughout the spring for each of the eight theme rooms—The Country, The Depression, Industry, Labor, American People, Leisure, The City, and The New Deal.
The Museum's blog Eye Level
Read exhibition-related blog posts including, 1934 All Over Again, Ray Strong Paints the Golden Gate Bridge, and On "1934," a Poem by Philip Levine.
Programs
March 19, 2009; Gallery Talk with Ann Prentice Wagner
April 30, 2009; 1934 Film Series: Bound for Glory
May 9, 2009; Family Day: Remembering the 1930s
May 9, 2009; 1934 Film Series: Annie
May 21, 2009; 1934 Film Series: The Grapes of Wrath
June 16, 2009; Coaxing the Soul of America Back to Life with Roger Kennedy
June 25, 2009; 1934 Film Series: It Happened One Night
July 9, 2009; Gallery Talk with George Gurney
July 16, 2009; 1934 Film Series: Imitation of Life
August 13, 2009; 1934 Film Series: The Man Who Knew Too Much
Recent News Stories
National Public Radio, Morning Edition, "'1934': Reflecting On America's First Big Art Buy" by Elizabeth Blair
The Washington Post, "American Scenes Tempered by Tough Times" by Michael O'Sullivan
WAMU 88.5, Metro Connection, interview with Elizabeth Broun
Washington Times, "ART: Creativity during hard times" by Deborah Dietsch
BBC World News America, interview with Elizabeth Broun
Smithsonian magazine (online), " What’s the Deal about New Deal Art?" by David Taylor
Smithsonian magazine, " 1934: Picturing Hard Times" by Jerry Adler
National Tour
The exhibition will begin a three-year national tour in 2010. Confirmed venues include the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (January 30, 2010 – April 25, 2010); the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Fort Wayne, Indiana (May 21, 2010 – August 22, 2010); The Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida (February 3, 2011 – May 1, 2011); the Oklahoma City Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (May 26, 2011 – August 21, 2011); the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama (September 24, 2011 – January 8, 2012); the Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, Michigan (February 16, 2012 – May 6, 2012); and the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine (October 25, 2012 – January 20, 2013).
