Object Details
Artist
Stanton Macdonald-Wright, born Charlottesville, VA 1890-died Los Angeles, CA 1973
Exhibition Label
The Santa Monica public library murals were executed with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a six-month pilot program begun in December 1933. The PWAP, which served as a precursor to both the Section of Painting and Sculpture and the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project, was established to determine the viability of federal arts programming within the larger New Deal agenda.
MacDonald-Wright created a series of thirty-eight panels depicting two streams of human development: one technical, the other imaginative. The prologue section shows the pursuits of primitive man; later panels present accomplishments in the arts and sciences and portray figures in the history of mathematics, astronomy, music, art, and literature. The series culminates in scenes of the region's motion picture industry, representing the fusion of technology and imagination in modern American life.
Special Delivery: Murals for the New Deal Era, 1988
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the City of Santa Monica, California
Date
1934-1935
Object number
1966.103.4
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
28 1/2 x 60 in. (72.3 x 152.3 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Landscape\mountain
Landscape\weather\cloud
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1966.103.4