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Figuring the New Deal: Politics and Ideology in Treasury Section Painting and Sculpture in Washington, D.C., 1934-1943

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Figuring the New Deal: Politics and Ideology in Treasury Section Painting and Sculpture in Washington, D.C., 1934-1943 Figuring the New Deal: Politics and Ideology in Treasury Section Painting and Sculpture in Washington, D.C., 1934-1943 Warren Carter PhD Thesis History of Art University College London i UMI Number: U591437 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U591437 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Declaration I, Warren Carter, 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. Abstract This thesis uses neo-Marxist theories of the state and their application to New Deal historiography as the framework within which to analyse the artworks produced under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture from 1934 to 1943 in Washington, D.C. Taking as its focus the murals and sculptures produced for the Justice Department, the Interior Department, and the Social Security Administration buildings it seeks to demonstrate how Section art reflected the twists and turns of the Roosevelt administration as it moved through the First New Deal, the Second New Deal, and the constitutional crisis in the lead up to war in Europe. Whilst these artworks are often read as propaganda pure and simple the thesis will explore the extent to which the art produced under federal patronage had a far more nuanced and complex relationship to New Deal social policy. It will demonstrate that this was particularly the case with those murals and sculptures produced by radical artists, politicised by the Depression and organised via the various cultural fronts of the Communist Party of the United States, who attempted to use their commissions to encode a politics and ideology to the left of a New Deal reform agenda, particularly as this was becoming increasingly stymied in the led up to war. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 3 List of Illustrations 5 Acknowledgements 16 Introduction 18 1 Justice for Artists: The constitutional revolution of 1937 and its representation in Section murals in the Justice Department, 1934-41 39 2 Interior Decoration: Harold Ickes, the Second New Deal, and Section art in the Department of the Interior building, 1937-42 119 3 Visualising the Welfare State: Section art in the Social Security Administration building, 1939-43 203 Conclusion 260 Bibliography 265 Illustrations 281 4 List of Illustrations 1) Edward Laning,Unlawful Assembly, Union Square, 1931, tempera on composition board, 36x91.5cm, Whitney Museum of Art, New York. 2) Ben Shahn,Demonstration , 1932-33, gouache on paper mounted on masonite, 40.1x56.3cm, private collection. 3) Nicolai Cikovsky, Union Square - During the Period o f Depression, 1934, oil on canvas. 51x40.5cm, whereabouts unknown. 4) George Biddle,The Tenement and Sweatshop o f Yesterday Can Be the Life Planned with Justice o f Tomorrow (det), 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 5) George Biddle, The Tenement and Sweatshop o f Yesterday Can Be the Life Planned with Justice o f Tomorrow (det), 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 6) George Biddle, The Tenement and Sweatshop of Yesterday Can Be the Life Planned with Justice o f Tomorrow (det), 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building. Washington, D.C. 7) George Biddle,The Tenement and Sweatshop o f Yesterday Can Be the Life Planned with Justice o f Tomorrow (det), 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 8) George Biddle,The Tenement and Sweatshop o f Yesterday Can Be the Life Planned with Justice o f Tomorrow (det), 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building. Washington, D.C. 9) Henry Vamum Poor.Imprisonment, Rehabilitation, andRelease from Prison, 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 10) Henry Vamum Poor,Unloading Goods, Customs Inspection, andSurveying New Lands, 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 11) Henry Vamum Poor,Antitrust, Kidnapping, andFederal Bureau o f Investigation, 1935-36. fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 12) Henry Vamum Poor,Tennessee Valley Authority, Symbols o f Justice, andThe Gold Case, 1935-36, fresco, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 13) Boardman Robinson,Menes, Moses, andHammurabi, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 5 14) Boardman Robinson,Papinian, Solon, andJustinian, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 15) Boardman Robinson,Sir Edward Coke, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 16) Boardman Robinson,Constitution, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 17) Boardman Robinson,Magna Charta, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 18) Boardman Robinson,Blackstone, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 19) Boardman Robinson,John Marshall, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 20) Boardman Robinson,Chancellor Kent, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 21) Boardman Robinson,Thomas Aquinas, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 22) Boardman Robinson,Justice Holmes, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 23) Boardman Robinson,Grotius, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 24) Boardman Robinson,Vitoria, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 25) Boardman Robinson,Socrates, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 26) Boardman Robinson,Jesus, 1935-37, tempera on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 27) Boardman Robinson,The Deserter, 1916, The Masses, 8 (July 1916), pp. 18-19. 28) Leon Kroll, The Victory o f Justice, 1935-36, oil on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 29) Leon Kroll, The Defeat o f Justice, 1935-36, oil on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 6 30) Cover of the exhibition catalogue An Art Commentary on Lynching, 1935. 31) John Steuart Curry, design forFreeing o f the Slaves, 1935, 21.5x52cm, private collection. 32) John Steuart Curry,Mississippi Noah, 1932, lithograph, 25x34.3cm, Davenport Museum of Art, Iowa. 33) John Steuart Curry,Law Versus Mob Rule, 1935-37, oil on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 34) John Steuart Curry,Westward Movement, 1935-37, oil on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 35) Maurice Sterne, Female Figures, 1917, The Masses, 9 (Apr. 1917), p. 25. 36) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Brute Force, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 37) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Greed, 1935-41, oil on board. Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 38) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Ordeal, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 39) Maurice Sterne. The Search fo r Truth: Justice Tempered by Mercy, 1935-41, oil on board. Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 40) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Intolerance, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 41) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Tradition, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 42) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Superstition, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 43) Maurice Sterne, The Search for Truth: Continuity o f the Law, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 44) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: The Past, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 45) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: The Future, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 7 46) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Belief in Magic, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 47) Maurice Sterne, The Search for Truth: Competition and Monopoly, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 48) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: False Witness, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 49) Maurice Sterne, The Search for Truth: Justice and Science, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 50) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Environment, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 51) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Ambition, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 52) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Red Tape, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 53) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Scale o f Justice. 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 54) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Intuition, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 55) Maurice Sterne, The Search fo r Truth: Reason, 1935-41, oil on board, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 56) John Ballator, Contemporary Justice and Man, 1936-37, tempera on canvas. Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 57) Emil Bisttram, Contemporary Justice and Woman, 1936-39, oil on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C. 58) Simeon Shimin, Contemporary Justice and the Child, 1936-40, oil on canvas, Justice Department Building, Washington, D.C.
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