Evening star., 1937-11-20
COURTS MAY ACT
TO FORCE MURAL
INTO SANATOR|UM
Possible Legal Steps Seen
to Allow w. PA. Artist to
Complete Ceiling.
ARTISTS UNION ASSAILS
0BLlTERATION OF WORK
Resolution Also Recognizes Threat
to Mother Goose" Art Hit
by Rutland.

Inc poSSlDlllty OF legal action to
force restoration of w. P. A. mural
depicting the History of Electricity"
which was painted off the ceiling of
the heliotherapy room of the District
tuberculosis Sanatorium at Glenn
Dale. Md, before it was finished, was
being considered by local w. P. A. art
project officials today.
The incompleted mural was oblit-
Grated by order of DR.. D. L. Ffnucane.
superintendent of the sanatorium, who
said he acted because it was taking
too long for the work to be completed,
and Il didn't think much of it,
anyway"
His action was condemned by the
District Artists Union, which last night
adopted resolution demanding that
steps be taken to assure the artist,
Allen Flavelle, "an opportunity to
complete the work IN full"
Mother Goose Mural Threat.
The resolution also recognized the
threat to the Mother Goose" mural
by Miss Bernice Cross, which Health
Officer George e. Rutland has Or
dered removed from the reception hall
Of the children's building at the sana-
torium because he considered it gro
tesque." 1t called for Reinforcement
of the democratic procedure so that
further destruction of works of artistic
merit will be certainly prevented"
The tempest created by DR.. Ruh-
lands order brought assurance from
Commissioner George c. Allen that
Miss Cross mural would not be
touched pending decision on its suit
ability for the children's room by a
jury of art critics.
Meanwhile, decision on what steps
might be taken by local w. P. A. art
project officials in connection with the
obliteration of FTavelle's work awaited
return OF Russell Parr, director, who
was out of the city today 1t was
pointed out by other officials, however.
that art projects carried out with Fed
eral funds become Government prop
erty and that in California case
legal action had forced the persons
who had ordered removal of a w. P.
A. mura! to have it repainted at their
own expense.
1t was said at National w. P. A.
headquarters that the controversy was
purely a local matter, and that if any
action was taken it would be through
the District project officials.
Whole Program Held in Danger.
FIaVelle told the District Artists
Union last night his personal feelings
about the destruction of his work
were not so important as "the larger
question of the freedom of art" He
charged that the entire w. P. A. art
program for advancement of national
culture lis endangered when experts
in one field take it upon themselves
to dictate arbitrarily what is good in
other fields"
F. A. Whiting, jr., editor of the
/ Magazine of Art, said he saw Flavelles S
unfinished work before it was painted
| over last week and that he considered
it among the best of Federal art prof.
ects he had inspected during the last
three years.
The painting, intended to depict the
history of electricity from earliest times
to the present. involved unusual COM
plications, it was said, because of the
fact that patients who would view 1t
while lying on their backs in the heio-
therapy room would be wearing colored
glasses and because Of the effects of the
ultraviolet rays used in the treatments
on the colors. Flavelle had spent sew
eral weeks working out color scheme
that would survive these difficulties.
The work was begun in September,
1886, and was interrupted several times
due to shortages of w. P. A. funds and
other obstacles. DR.. Finucane said this
delay was his chief reason for ordering
house painters to eliminate the mural.