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Yasuo Kuniyoshi

LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD  Broadcast WNYC  Oct. 17, 1951  3:15 Pm

There are two things I should like to talk about this afternoon: my personal ideas about American painting today, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. These subjects are related only in so far as they concern American art.
Much as been accomplished, it seems to me, considering that contemporary art has reached its present elevated position only within the short space of the last 30 or 40 years. Our early interests in the fine arts were devoted mainly to the old masters, or of far places, or the fashionable expressions of former eras. A few American artists found fame in their own time, but a larger percentage were unknown. This was due to a variety of reasons, but the most obvious was the scarcity of places to exhibit and a limited audience.
Happily, this situation no longer prevails. There are opportunities to see, study and learn about present day art. Many things have been responsible for our expansion, but particularly the WPA Art Project, which brought painting and sculpture to almost every corner of the United States.