Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-07-14
ART AND ARTISTS
ART AND ARTISTS
Government Art Projects Show
AT Museum Of Modern Art
BY FRANK GETLETN
star Art critic


gave an elation on which art
is still riding.
The reason was simple
enough. In the piping times
Of prosperity, the artist
starved and no one thought
much Of it. In the depres-
sion, everybody starved and
the Government had to take
steps. Let's get this coun-
try eating again." was the
word.
Since no one thought to
exclude him, the artist, along
with everyone else, was in
vited to join the free lunch
the Government was dishing
out. For most Americans,
work on the WPA was q de-
cided come down, both in the
work itself and especially In
the pay. For the American
artist these emergency meas
ures were q bonanza. Sud-
denly he was getting $23 a
week and art materials. This
is not only more than most
American artists had made
up to then, 1t is more than
most make now, on their art
and not counting teaching,
lectures, grants, fellowships
and hors d'oeuvre picked up
at cocktail parties.
Art Boom
The "art boom" that we
may or may not be having
now traces itself directly back
to the days of Government
interest in art. At that time
art centers were started in
many cities, public collections
received their first substan-
tial addition Of contemporary
American art. public build
ings were planned as q mat
ter Of course to- be enhanced
by the best art available,
millions Of Americans began
to be exposed to art for the
first time, and an important
generation of American
artists experienced, In its
daily life, the conviction that
art was socially important.
All this is the product Of
the Government art projects
OF the l930s, the gift to the
Nation Of Harry Hopkins.
1t is therefore fitting that
the new exhibition at the
Washington Gallery Of Mod
ern Art features prominently
a bronze head of Harry
Hopkins. The show, assem-
bled by the Museum Of Mod
ern Art, New York. is "U.- s.
Government Art Projects:
Some Distinguished Alumni. I"
1t brings together 81 works
by % artists. roughly half of
them done on the projects,
the other half done since.
The head Of Hopkins is the
work Of Reuben Nakian,
whose retrospective the Gal
lery showed earlier this sea-
son.
Around that head is the
surviving evidence Of the
worth of the projects. As in
any then-and-now show, the
work divides itself into two
rough categories: artists who
at that time were at loose
ends, not yet having found
their own true courses In art,
and, on the other hand, art
lists who had already made
that essential discovery and
whose work, since then, has
been a constant and greatly
rewarding refinement of the
means.
theological Era
1t is. Of course, impossible
to choose one group ever the
other as the more valuable
to preserve in art. The point
is that the W.P.A. and the
Treasury Program preserved
both, impartially. The wide
variety Of style in painting
and sculpture done on the
Government projects is a
convincing answer to present.
day fears that If the Govern
ment spends seventy : five
cents on art 1t will become
an art dictator. There is no
evidence st all Of any cline"
in the work of the sos. The
only line followed was that
dictated by the inner necessi-
ties Of the artists themselves.
The answer is the more
convincing because the time
then was a much more ideo-
logical one than ours. From
the Communists to the Sill
yer Shirts, from the Techno-
Gratis to the Townsendites
everyone thought he had the
all-inclusive answer to the
social problem. No one thinks
that today except the John
Birch Society.
Yet none of this social con-
viction dominates the work.
The only pieces in which the
times are particularly evident
are two mural designs by
Ben Shahn. and these are
more historical paintings In
the traditional sense than
they are propaganda for any
thing. The paired subjects
are a WCTU parade and q
Repeal Prohibition Parade
led by His Honor Jimmy
Walker. The whole point Of
the tmurals is the amazing
equality Of the two groups.
When you get right down to
1t. the paintings say, there
isn'tlmuch to choose between
the anti-saloon league and
the militant boozers. Beyond
that conclusion. the works
record q piece Of the period
with impartial wit and COM
VNaoatnV