#AmericanArtMuseum
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lronlacy.bsky.social
In #DECEMBER 1933
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‘Snow Shovelers’ #JacobGetlarSmith (1898-1958) Oil on canvas 1934
‘Many artists went out into the cold to find subjects after the [#PublicWorksofArtProject] #PWAP began in December 1933. Jacob Getlar Smith found men hired by the government’s new work ➡️
Smithsonian American Art Museum, from US Dept. of Labor image and words quoted from https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3382370658/in/pool-1934/
December 27, 2025 at 1:28 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
‘Midland Elevator’ Arnold Klagstad 1934
'... The juxtapositions of greenery with steel, and agricultural structures with manufacturing signal the tensions among farmers, business owners, and unions that led to violent confrontations in the streets of Minneapolis in 1934.’
👉ALT
Arnold Ness Klagstad (1898-1954). 1934. Oil on canvas. Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). 'Cars and trains, industry and agriculture, trees and smokestacks meet in this busy image of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Local painter Arnold Klagstad gently guided the viewer’s eye into the painting along a curving stretch of road with a car and two pedestrians to lead the way past a brick house, trees, and green lawns. Two white railroad crossing signs signal an abrupt transition to the confusing complex of commercial structures crowded along the railroad tracks. Among the many buildings is the Harris Machinery Company at the far right, announced by a bold black and white SIGN, while a towering Archer Daniels Midland Grain Elevator dominates the view. The density of businesses may suggest a thriving economy, but in fact drought and low farm prices made for hard times in 1930s Minnesota. …’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3266718781/in/pool-1934/
June 24, 2025 at 12:58 PM
melissagaskill.bsky.social
Beautifuly eloquent and insightful piece. And man, go to the #AmericanArtMuseum if you can! wapo.st/4j5TrIM
Opinion | What exactly does Trump think is in the Smithsonian?
Following his most recent executive order, I went in search of some “corrosive ideology.”
wapo.st
April 6, 2025 at 3:07 PM
seths.photos
Kogod Courtyard

#smithsonian #americanartmuseum #nationalportraitgallery #dc #fujifilm #xt20
A photo of the curved glass ceiling at the Kogod Courtyard in Washington, D.C., where the undulating grid roof meets the historic stone architecture of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
April 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
cormaca.bsky.social
#Trump specifically singled out the #NationalMuseumofAfricanAmericanHistoryandCulture, the #Women’sHistoryMuseum, and the #AmericanArtMuseum for special scrutiny. The order targets “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

I’ll bet he’s never been in any of these museums. Or any museum.
March 29, 2025 at 1:13 AM
lronlacy.bsky.social
3 #MARCH #WorldWildlifeDay
‘Jungle’ Paul Kirtland Mays (1887-1961). Oil on canvas. #PublicWorksOfArtProject (#PWAP). 1934.
👉ALT
Smithsonian AAM (from the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service).
#wildlife #PaulKirtlandMays #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression
‘A lush, charming scene filled with tropical greenery & beautiful, gentle animals welcomes the viewer of Jungle. This is no scientific study of a foreign land. The blackbuck at the far left is the only identifiable animal… This is a FANTASY JUNGLE, devoid of biting insects & threatening predators. The painting is as delightfully impossible as popular Depression-era jungle movies like the 1932 Tarzan, The Ape Man, featuring Indian elephants alongside African chimpanzees. The frustrated ape at the center of the painting is reminiscent of the chimps in the Tarzan movies. Like the Hollywood products of its day, this painting offers viewers a colorful temporary refuge from the grim realities of Depression-era America. The parallels between canvas & film are no accident. A few years earlier [he] had painted fantastic visions on the walls of Hollywood movie palaces like the Paramount Theatre & Grauman’s Theatre. ...' https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3314798286/in/pool-1934/
March 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
3 #MARCH #WorldWildlifeDay
‘Mountain Lions’ Ila McAfee Turner (1897-1995)
👉ALT
Oil on canvas. #PublicWorksOfArtProject (#PWAP). Smithsonian AAM (from U.S. Dept. of Labor) 1934
#wildlife #WinthropDuthieTurney #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression
‘Two mountain lions gaze serenely over their home range from atop a ridge of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Artist Ila McAfee Turner brought out the gentle beauty and fleeting companionship of these big predators during the days a newly mated pair spends together. During the rest of the year the mature cats live in separate territories. Turner lived in Taos, New Mexico, but was well acquainted with this dramatic, steep-sided Colorado canyon and its animal inhabitants. She had grown up riding horseback around her family’s ranch outside the mining town of Gunnison, Colorado. In a song titled “Did You Ever Hear of Gunnison?” the artist described her childhood home as she showed these mountain lions, “way up there, in thin clean air, far away from anywhere, up on the beautiful western slope, high in the rugged Rocky Mountains.” https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3266718781/in/pool-1934/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/with/3266718781/
March 19, 2025 at 4:38 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
'Finishing the #CathedralofLearning'
Harry W. Scheuch (1906-1978) Oil on canvas #PublicWorksOfArtProject (#PWAP)
Smithsonian Museum of #AmericanArt (from the US Dept. of Labor) 1934
👉ALT
#HarryScheuch #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression #construction #constructionworkers
'Workers scurry like busy ants to complete the University of Pittsburgh’s lofty Cathedral of Learning. The men and trucks trample the winter’s snow into mud as they labor through the frigid winter of 1933–1934 to house much-needed new classrooms. Carpenters nail timbers together to finish the scaffolding. The main part of the structure rises at the upper right, already clad in limestone blocks, while masons are still covering the lower stories of the façade... Behind the Cathedral of Learning stand the gleaming white columns of the Mellon Institute Building, which was also under construction. ... Together, the two paintings tell the story of this mighty undertaking. ... Like the Empire State Building & the Golden Gate Bridge, the Cathedral of Learning demonstrated that the...Depression could not stop Americans from accomplishing great things.' https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3267571960/in/pool-1934/
February 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
#WINTER 1933-1934 - the #PublicWorksOfArtProject (#PWAP)
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‘Workers on the Cathedral of Learning’
Harry W. Scheuch (1906-1978). Oil on canvas.
Smithsonian Museum of #AmericanArt (from US Dept. of Labor) 1934
👉ALT
#HarryScheuch #TheNewDeal #CathedralOfLearning #Pittsburgh
‘Artist Harry Scheuch painted the Cathedral of Learning twice for the PWAP. The first image is a close-up view of the masons at work, while this second painting is a more distant view that reveals the horde of workers involved. Together the two paintings tell the story of this mighty undertaking. The forty-two-story structure was not substantially completed until 1937, and some interior work continued for decades after that. Like the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge, the Cathedral of Learning demonstrated that the Great Depression could not stop Americans from accomplishing great things.’ 2 images and words quoted from https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3314830802/in/pool-1934/
February 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
#WINTER 1933-1934 – The #PublicWorksOfArtProject (#PWAP)
‘Skating in Central Park’ Agnes Tait (1894-1981). 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum (from US Dept. of Labor)
👉ALT
#AgnesTait #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression #iceskating #CentralPark #ThePond
‘… without a patron [Tait] could not take on this project. When the [PWAP] gave her support in the winter of 1933–1934, the artist had her opportunity. As skaters & sledders flocked to the frozen lake & snowy slopes of Central Park, Tait joined them to sketch the winter fun. Then she retreated to her studio to make her painting. Tait showed the park in late afternoon as the Manhattan sky began to blush & the street lamps to glow, but skating & sledding were still in full swing. Once she had the landscape painted, Tait added figures in groups to create a colorful pattern against the snow and ice. The dark branches of the bare trees make a more subtle design against the white snow and mist & the golden sky. Around the ends of tree branches & in patches along the snow banks, Tait painted areas of gray into which she drew snow-covered twigs & grasses by scraping away the gray paint with the end of her paintbrush.’ - https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3266718781/in/pool-1934/ [image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctankcycles/3684877407/]
February 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
Detail
👉ALT
#BeulahBettersworth #PWAP #AmericanArt #GreatDepression #TheNewDeal #GreenwichVillage #ChristopherStreet #El #Elstation #WhiteHouse
Yet artists like Bettersworth still found homes there and with the advent of the Depression, low rents attracted a new generation of poverty-stricken young poets and painters to the Village’s storied garrets. Perhaps the colorful aura of the Village appealed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who chose this modest canvas to hang in the White House.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3267538838/in/pool-1934/
February 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
The #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
‘Chicago Interior’
J. Theodore Johnson (1902-1963). Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum (from the U.S. Department of Labor). 1934.
👉ALT
#JTheodoreJohnson #PWAP #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression
‘The warmth from the radiator is almost palpable ..., contrasting with the snowy city seen through the window. The distinctive blue-tiled tower of the American Furniture Mart identifies the setting as Chicago, where ... Johnson & his wife ... came to attend an exhibition of the artist’s work shortly after they had wed in New York in December 1931. The artist lovingly portrayed his beautiful young wife reading in their hotel room. The warm browns, yellows, & oranges raise the visual temperature, heightened further by hot touches of red in the drapery & in Mrs. Johnson’s lips, cheeks, magazine, & chair. A heavy fur coat laid to dry by the radiator shows that Mrs. Johnson has recently come in to escape the frigid winds from Lake Michigan. ... In 1937 & 1939 Johnson returned to Chicago to fulfill commissions from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for historical murals in the Morgan Park & Oak Park Post Offices.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3313966973/in/pool-1934/
February 20, 2025 at 2:20 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
The #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
‘Natural Power’
Raymond White Skolfield (1909-1996) Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum (from the U.S. Department of Labor) 1934.
👉ALT
#RaymondWhiteSkolfield #PWAP #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #landscape
‘[The] painting tells how power shaped the town of Proctor, Vermont. Sutherland Falls, roaring down the middle of this snowy image, is also central to the town where the major industry is a large marble quarry... Part of the marble quarry complex is visible at the top... A standpipe for the quarry stands near the creek, colorfully enclosed by blue siding with red trim. Originally, a water-powered mill used belts to drive saws & other heavy equipment... In 1905 the…company replaced the mill with a hydroelectric plant [seen right]... A large pipe running parallel to the waterfall feeds surging water into the plant, which powers the quarry & the town. This power helped to carve out…blocks for such projects as the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC…. But…natural sources…persisted... A man in the foreground uses muscle power to load his sled with logs he will split & burn in his fireplace to keep the winter cold at bay.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/with/3266718781/
February 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
#WINTER (#FEBRUARY) 1933-1934 #PublicWorksofArtProject #PWAP
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‘Central Park’
Carl Gustaf Nelson (1898-1988)
Oil/canvas
‘Neither the cold of winter nor the gloom of the #GreatDepression kept the children of #NewYorkCity from enjoying #CentralPark... Artist #CarlNelson had ➡️
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3266718781/in/pool-1934/
February 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
‘This simple, timeless winter scene of a man walking through a snowy wood is probably set near Woodstock, New York, the rural artists’ colony where Martha Levy made paintings similar to this unsigned work. …’ 👉ALT
#landscape
‘... The simple house surrounded by snowdrifts, evergreens, and bare trees makes an idyllic picture that would be at home on a Christmas card. Yet the hunter with his rifle and red hat adds an uneasy note. Most hunters in the early 1930s were sportsmen as in previous years, but a hunting columnist noted in 1931, “The prevailing opinion in Michigan is that the deer will be hunted harder than ever this year, because with many of the hunters, it is a question of meat, rather than an emphasis upon the sport.” Michigan was not the only state where unemployed men used their hunting rifles to feed their families. In Arkansas, hunters were seen on city streets selling game to supplement their incomes. Does this hunter, with no game in hand, have a family at home waiting anxiously for him to return with meat? Is he just out for a day’s sport? The artist leaves the questions unanswered.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3266718781/in/pool-1934/
February 9, 2025 at 4:19 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
The #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (#PWAP)
‘Manhattan Skyline’
John Cunning (1889-1953). Oil on canvas.
Smithsonian American Art Museum (from the U.S. Dept. of Labor) 1934
#JohnCunning #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #cityscape #Manhattan #skyline
👉ALT
‘Manhattan Skyline’ John Cunning (1889-1953) Oil on canvas Public Works of Art Project (#PWAP) 1934. ‘New York City goes about its varied daily businesses in Cunning’s painting, despite the Depression. Whether or not their offices were full of workers, the Farmers Trust Building, 120 Wall Street, the Bank of Manhattan, 60 Wall Tower, and the Singer Building towered proudly against the gray sky. Commuters who still had jobs had come from the outer boroughs in the ferryboats shown tied up at the Manhattan Docks. ... On the Brooklyn shore, cargo ships are tied up for loading or unloading. The men in the foreground are removing snow from the roofs of a coffee warehouse on Water Street near the Brooklyn Bridge.' https://flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3266713583/in/pool-1934/ (with more on the picture)
February 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
👉ALT
#SaulBerman #PWAP #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression #BrooklynNavyYard #landscape #cityscape
‘The old brick building in the foreground displays the Blue Eagle symbol of the National Recovery Administration in its window to indicate that the lumber company adheres to the NRA’s codes for prices, wages, and work hours. The negotiation of NRA codes set off strikes in many industries, and the shipbuilding business was no exception. In early 1934, after the strikes were settled, New York shipyards still lacked work and pleaded for federal government projects to keep men employed. A few years later World War II would bring record numbers of workers to the shipyards that languish idle here under gray skies.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3267538786/in/pool-1934/
February 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
For the #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
‘River Front’ Saul Berman (1899-1975). Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor. 1934.
👉ALT
#landscape #cityscape #BrooklynNavyYard #GreatDepression
‘Saul Berman’s detailed, reportorial painting shows workers busily clearing snow from the New York Navy Yard during the challenging winter of 1933–1934. Piles of timbers recall the fleets of sailing and steamships built by these shipyards on the East River in Brooklyn for the United States Navy and for commercial use since the eighteenth century. However, as the empty dry docks along the river in the background show, during the fall and winter of that year New York shipyard workers often had nothing better to do than clear snow. ...’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3267538786/in/pool-1934/
February 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor. 1934.
👉ALT
#RobertMiller #PublicWorksOfArtProject #PWAP #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression #farm #farming #landscape
‘The farms around Miller’s home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, held the promise of more than sprouting crops. He was only one of the artists and writers attracted to Bucks County by the picturesque scenery. As the Depression pushed down real estate values, New York City theatrical luminaries such as George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart bought newly affordable Pennsylvania farms. They made an old mill into the Bucks County Playhouse. In New Hope, as in artistic centers across the country, the fresh life emerging in the spring of 1934 would be both creative and agricultural.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3314810482/in/pool-1934/
February 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
For the #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
🧵👇
‘Farm’
Robert A. Darrah Miller (1905-1966). Oil on canvas.
👉ALT
#RobertMiller #PublicWorksOfArtProject #PWAP #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal #GreatDepression #farm #farming #landscape
‘Robert Miller’s painting of a Pennsylvania farm amid snow-covered hills seems the very picture of cold rural silence. No one travels the road running past the farm. The people and livestock all shelter in the solidly built house and barn. Even the trees are under cover for winter, cut back without a leaf braving the frosty air. Yet the sky is a rich blue, and the barn and house glow in warm tones of red and yellow. The diagonal lines of the trees and buildings suggest suppressed life waiting for spring.’ https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3314810482/in/pool-1934/
February 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
The #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
‘Filling the Ice House’ Harry Gottlieb (1895-1992). 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.
👉ALT
#HarryGottlieb #PWAP #AmericanArt #TheNewDeal
‘... it was cold, hard work filling the icehouses of upstate New York. In January 1934, … Gottlieb signed on with the PWAP & looked for American workers he could paint near his home in the artists’ colony of Woodstock, [NY]. He found these men harvesting ice off lakes & streams as local men had done every winter since the early 1800s. They sawed the thick layer of natural ice into long strips & then cut off large blocks. ...the red-faced workers dressed in warm coats used long hooks & wooden ramps to maneuver the slick, heavy ice into large commercial icehouses where they neatly stacked the blocks. Straw or sawdust packing minimized melting in warm weather. Throughout the year icehouses along the Hudson River stored ice that was shipped by train to [NYC]. Families & grocers put the ice into insulated iceboxes... Artificial freezing dominated ice production after [WWI], & then electric refrigerators became popular. ...' https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3313921947/in/pool-1934/
February 5, 2025 at 3:22 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
The #WINTER of 1933-1934 - the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
‘Snow Shovellers’ Jacob Getlar Smith (1898-1958) Oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor. 1934.
👉ALT
#JacobGetlarSmith #PWAP #AmericanArt #CWA #TheNewDeal
'Many artists went out into the cold to find subjects after the PWAP began in [Dec] 1933. …Smith found men hired by the government’s new work relief program, the Civil Works Administration, to shovel snow from the streets & park paths of [NYC]. Some ... shovelers sport crisp fedoras & warm overcoats while others wear battered caps & ragged coats; some have practical boots while others wear shoes more suited to office work. Men used to physical labor stride along vigorously; those accustomed to sitting behind desks walk more slowly, bowed with weariness after a morning spent clearing snow. Black & white, poor & middle class—all had lost their jobs to the Great Depression. Smith showed them gathered into the ranks of the New Deal social programs that offered them all the means to get through the winter. A boy pulling a sled walks alongside the men, a reminder of the families who looked to these men for their support.' https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3382370658/in/pool-1934/
February 4, 2025 at 2:57 PM
altframes.bsky.social
Moment captured: looking up while walking down the stairs in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
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#blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #highcontrast #silhouette #iron #architecture #saam #smithsonian #americanartmuseum #lookup #frombelow #bnw #bnwphotos #shadows
January 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM
lronlacy.bsky.social
In #DECEMBER 1933
🧵👇
‘Snow Shovelers’ #JacobGetlarSmith (1898-1958) Oil on canvas 1934
‘Many artists went out into the cold to find subjects after the [#PublicWorksofArtProject] #PWAP began in December 1933. Jacob Getlar Smith found men hired by the government’s new work ➡️
Smithsonian American Art Museum, from US Dept. of Labor image and words quoted from https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/3382370658/in/pool-1934/
December 27, 2024 at 12:15 PM