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TREASURY DEPARTMENT
WASHINGTON
ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO TREASURY
ON FINE ARTS

L. W. ROBERT, JR.
ASST. SECRETARY
FREDERIC A. DELANO
CHAIRMAN
CHARLES MOORE
REXFORD TUGWELL
HARRY L. HOPKINS
H. T. HUNT
MEMBERS
EDWARD BRUCE
SECRETARY

January 9, 1934.

Dear Mr. Hayden:

I was delighted to see that you were one of the artists who has gone to work on our Public Works of Art Project.

Too much has been published in the newspapers about this Project being a relief measure. It is not a relief measure except to the extent that the money is to be spent where it will do the most good, i.e., among artists who are out of employment; but the prime test in selecting artists for this work is their qualification and ability as an artist, and it should be, as I am sure it is, a source of pride to you that you have qualified as an artist in the opinion of your local committee. When the story is written the twenty-five hundred artists employed under this Project will form the honor roll.

Personnally [[personally]] I feel that every artist in the country ought to get behind this work. Where they can afford to do so they should give their time to it, and where they can not afford to do so, they are eligible for employment. It is the finest gesture that this or any other country has ever made to its artists. It is a challenge to us to prove that we have something to say which is worth saying and which will make the life of America richer and finer. 

I am sure that you are approaching the work with a feeling that we all have down here, that you are going to give to it the finest that is in you and help to make of this work not only a record of which our country may be proud but to sell to the American people the idea that art is and should be an integral part of our civilization. Under the guidance of our President we are setting a standard of civilization which, I think, is a little higher than anything we have had before. This art project is a very significant demonstration of that setting-up.

I know that the artist is an individualist and he should be an individualist. If he didn't believe in his own pictures he shouldn't be painting. But, on the other hand, we should all recognize that art is an expression of national culture and that it takes artists of all schools and types to make this expression a rounded one. It is time that all of us forget ourselves and our individual interests and personal preferences for the sake of a great cause. We can not let this movement degenerate into a squabble between schools and cliques, and I am expecting you and every other artist who is working on this project to preach this idea.

There are going to be scoffers and doubters and critics galore of this movement among people who do not see in it its true significance or realize that the artistic of every country remains, in the last analysis, the true measure of its civilization.

Cordially yours,
Edward Bruce

Mr. Palmer Hayden,
123 W 3rd St
New York, N.Y.