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Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in New Deal New York

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Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in New Deal New York Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in New Deal New York Jody Patterson PhD Thesis History of Art University College London 1 • Declaration I, Jody Patterson, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract This research project is the first comprehensive study to address the relations between modem art, leftist politics, and the New Deal federal art initiatives in New York City during the turbulent years of the Great Depression. While this period in American art is largely associated with the dominance of figurative works and the promotion of what was perceived as a tradition of native realism, the art scene was considerably more factional and complex than canonical narratives indicate. Significantly, the use of a modernist visual vocabulary was not nearly so marginal as current art-historical scholarship continues to suggest. This project explores the ways in which artists with varying degrees of commitment to the left, such as Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, and Balcomb Greene, negotiated a rapprochement between modernist aesthetics and leftist politics within a complex cultural field deeply divided by contending ideologies. Specifically, it examines these relations with respect to public muralism, an artfOlm that underwent a significant transformation during the decade, emerging as a vital manifestation of revolutionary popular art and serving as an exemplary means of bringing art to the people. In an effort to offer some corrective to the inadequacy of received notions of 1930s public art the primary goals of this study are two-fold: to analyze the ways in which artists negotiated the political mandates of the Communist Party, the Popular Front, and the New Deal state in order to fuse modernist artistic practices and leftist politics; and to examine the ways in which both Roosevelt's New Deal and the Communist Party's Popular Front were politically and ideologically able to accommodate the development of modernism, particularly within the context of the Public Works of Art Project (1933-1934) and the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project (1935-1943). 3 Table of Contents Abstract 3 List of Illustrations 5 Acknowledgements 15 Introduction 16 Chapter One. "We Capture the Walls": 36 Modernism, Murals, and the American Art Scene Chapter Two. The Public Works of Art Project: 75 A New Deal for American Modernism Chapter Three. The Federal Art Project: 107 Extending the Horizons of Modern Art Chapter Four. Davis, Brecht, and Leger: 142 Towards a Radical Realism Chapter Five. "Flight From Reality?" 179 Gorky's Murals for Newark Airport Chapter Six. Swinging Left: 197 The Williamsburg Housing Project Murals Chapter Seven. "Tomorrow, Inc.": 239 Modernism, Murals, and the Construction of a "Usable Future" at the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair Conclusion 277 Appendix I: Key to Journal and Periodical Abbreviations 284 Bibliography 285 Illustrations 313 4 List of Illustrations 1) Stuart Davis, Abstract Vision ofNew York: a building, a derby hat, a tiger's head, and other symbols (New York Mural), 1932, oil on canvas, 84 x 48 in., Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach. 2) Boardman Robinson, The Slave-Traders, one of ten panels from The History of Trade, 1929-1930, automotive paint on canvas, 15 x 8 ft each, Kaufmann Department Store, Pittsburgh. 3) John Singer Sargent, Triumph ofReligion, 1890-1919, oil on canvas, Boston Public Library. 4) Edwin Austin Abbey, The Quest and Achievement ofthe Holy Grail, 1895-1901, oil on canvas, Delivery Room, Boston Public Library. 5) Puvis de Chavannes, The Inspiring Muses Acclaim Genius, Messenger ofLight, 1895-1896, oil on canvas, Grand Staircase, Boston Public Library. 6) Kenyon Cox, The Arts, 1895-1896, oil on canvas, 9 ~ x 34 ft, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 7) Diego Rivera, Frozen Assets, 1931, fresco, approx. 94 x 74 in., collection Dolores Olmedo. 8) Diego Rivera, Detroit Industry, north wall, 1933, fresco, Detroit Institute of Arts. 9) Diego Rivera, Detroit Industry, south wall, 1933, fresco, Detroit Institute of Arts. 10) Diego Rivera, Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing ofa New and Better Future, 1934, fresco, later version of the Rockefeller Center mural, National Palace of the Fine Arts, Mexico City. 11) Jose Clemente Orozco, interior view with Fraternity ofAll Men and The Occident, 1931, fresco, New School for Social Research, New York. 12) Jose Clemente Orozco, interior view with The Homecoming of the Worker of the New Day and The Orient, 1931, fresco, New School for Social Research, New York. 13) Jose Clemente Orozco, Allegory ofScience, Labor, and Art, 1931, fresco, approx. 6 x 12 ft, New School for Social Research, New York. 14) Jose Clemente Orozco, Fraternity ofAll Men, 1931, fresco, approx. 6 x 12 ft, New School for Social Research, New York. 5 15) Jose Clemente Orozco, The Homecoming o/the Worker o/the New Day, 1931, fresco, approx. 6 x 12 ft, New School for Social Research, New York. 16) Jose Clemente Orozco, detail of The accident. 17) Hugo Gellert, The Writing on the Wall, as illustrated in the June 1932 issue of New Masses. 18) Ben Shahn, The Passion o/Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931-1932, tempera on canvas, 84 Yz x 48 in., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 19) Stuart Davis, Abstract Vision 0/ New York, original three-part state, 1932, oil on canvas, 21 x 14 in. each panel. 20) Stuart Davis, Men Without Women (Mural), 1932, oil on canvas, 10ft 8:Vs in. x 16 ft 11:Vs in., Radio City Music Hall, New York. 21) Stuart Davis, Men Without Women (Mural) in situ, Radio City Music Hall, New York. 22) Ernest Fiene, Aviation, 1932, tempera on gesso on wood panel, whereabouts unknown. 23) Glenn Coleman, The Old and the New, 1932, oil on canvas, whereabouts unknown. 24) Morris Kantor, Union Square, New York, 1932, oil on canvas, whereabouts unknown. 25) Paul Cadmus, The Fleet's In, 1934, oil on canvas, Navy Art Gallery, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. 26) John Graham, Landscape on Lake George, c.1934, whereabouts unknown. 27) Ilya Bolotowsky, In a Barbershop, 1934, oil on canvas 23:Vs x 30 Ys m., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. 28) Francis Criss, City Store Fronts, 1934, oil on canvas, 34 Ys x 45 Ys in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. 29) Francis Criss, Cityscape, c.1934, whereabouts unknown. 30) Jan Matulka, Still Life Composition, c.1933-1934, oil on canvas, 30% x 26 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. 6 31) Stuart Davis, Analogical Emblem - American Waterfront, oil on canvas, 32 x 50 in., private collection, San Francisco. 32) Arshile Gorky, 1934, c.l931-1932, pen and ink on paper, 9 ~ x 29 in., private collection. 33) Arshile Gorky, 1934, c.1931-1932, 7 ~ x 26 in., Allan Stone Gallery, New York. 34) Arshile Gorky, Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia, 1933-1934, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in., private collection. 35) Paolo Uccello, Profanation of the Host, detail, 1465-1469, oil on panel, approx. 138 x 17 in., Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino. 36) Photograph of Holger Cahill and Harry Hopkins, New Horizons exhibition, 1936, Museum of Modern Art, New York. 37) Karl Knaths, Music, c.1935-1936, oil on canvas, study for mural for Falmouth High School, Falmouth, Massachusetts, whereabouts unknown. 38) Karl Knaths, Music, c.1935-1936, oil on canvas, study for mural for Falmouth High School, Falmouth, Massachusetts, whereabouts unknown. 39) Max Spivak, Puppets, c.1935-1936, oil on canvas, mural study for Astoria Branch Library, Long Island, whereabouts unknown. 40) Wyatt Davis, Mechanical Aspects of Airplane Construction, c.1935-1936, photomontage, 204 x 204 in., whereabouts unknown. 41) Arshile Gorky, maquette without south wall for Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, 1936, whereabouts unknown. 42) Arshile Gorky, south wall of maquette for Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, 1936, whereabouts unknown. 43) Burgoyne Diller, Abstraction, 1934, oil on canvas, whereabouts unknown. 44) Burgoyne Diller, Abstraction, 1934, oil on canvas, whereabouts unknown. 45) Burgoyne Diller, Abstraction, 1934, oil on canvas, whereabouts unknown. 46) Stuart Davis, Saltshaker, 1931, oil on canvas, 49Ys x 32 in., Museum of Modern Art, New York. 47) Stuart Davis, Odol, 1924, oil on canvasboard, 24 x 18 in., Museum of Modern Art, New York. 7 48) Femand Leger, Le Siphon, 1924, oil on canvas, 36 x 23 ~ in., collection Mrs. Arthur C. Rosenberg, Chicago. 49) Installation view of Fernand Leger exhibition, November 1925, Anderson Galleries, New York. 50) Femand Leger, La Ville, 1919, oil on canvas, 91 x 117 ~ in., Philadelphia Museum of Art. 51) Installation view of International Exhibition of Modern Art, 1926, Brooklyn Museum, with Leger's Composition 7 on the right-hand wall. 52) The Museum of Living Art with Leger's La Ville on the back wall; photograph published in Life Magazine, 2 May 1938. 53) Esprit Nouveau Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, 1925, with Leger's Le Balustre on the right-hand wall. 54) Entrance Hall of the Ideal Embassy at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratijs, Paris, 1925, with Leger's Peinture murale above the doorway. 55) Femand Leger, study for the French Line Shipping Company mural, c.1935-1936, gouache, silver leaf, and pencil on paper, 11 x 31 y,; in., collection Johnson S. Bogart. 56) Femand Leger, Travaille in situ, 1937, photomontage, Education Pavilion, Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, Paris, 1937. 57) Femand Leger, Le Transport des Forces, 1937, gouache for mural for the Palace of Discovery, Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, Paris, 1937, Musee National Femand Leger, Biot.
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