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civilization and a new conception and definition of public works— a recognition that things of culture and of the spirit contribute to the well-being of the Nation.
I do not propose to prophesy either the character or the quality of the art which the 2,500 artists being given employment by our project will produce, but certain things I do know.
There has been too much said about this project as 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, and that is among artists who are out of employment, but the prime test in selecting artists for this work is their qualification and ability as artists.
I can assure you that our records or, to be more specific, our pay rolls are not cluttered with the names of Sunday painters, amateurs, and avocationists. I can assure you that these pay rolls contain the names of a large body of the leading painters and sculptors of this country.
We receive in Washington weekly reports giving us the names and records of the artists employed. I have brought with me one of these reports picked at random from our files, and I will read to you in the order in which they appear the records of some of the artists employed:
John Doe, aged 28, studied at St. Louis School of Fine Arts, 1921; Art Institute of Chicago, 1926; Art Students’ League, New York, 1927; has exhibited in numerous museums and has held 1-man shows in several cities.
Richard Roe, aged 36, studied at National Academy, Mechanics’ Institute, and with Howard Giles; 10 years’ experience painting and teaching.
Another artist, aged 50, studied at Cowles School, Boston; Art Students’ League, New York; and with E. L. Blumenschein and Leon Gaspard; 21 years’ experience.
Another painter studied at Royal Academy at Vienna; 20 years’ experience. Has received four awards; aged 41.
Another artist, aged 47, studied 5 years at Art Institute of Chicago; 2 1/2 years, Royal Academy at Munich. Eighteen years in professional painting of landscape and figure, 5 years in mural painting. Represented in the permanent collection of several museums.
Another painter studied Art Institute of Chicago, and 3 1/2 years in Europe; 25 years’ experience. Represented in the permanent collections of numerous museums. Has received numerous honors and awards. Aged 49.
Another painter, aged 39, studied at art department University of Kansas, 1912 to 1915. Two years at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. More than 2 years in Paris and the south of France. Has exhibited in practically all major museums of the United States and in the Autumn Salon, Paris. Held 1-man shows in New York. Has done mural decorations in Colorado Springs and Kansas City. Work owned by Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Denver Art Museum; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. Prize, International Water Color Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago; second purchase prize, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco.
Another artist, aged 65, studied at Art Students’ League, New York; National Academy of Design, New York; Academie Julien, Paris; mural painting, murals in Polk County Courthouse, Iowa; Missouri State Capitol, etc.
Another painter, aged 57, studied in Louisville; at Art Institute of Chicago, Royal Applied Art Schools, Dresden; Royal Academy, Dresden. Has painted for over 30 years.
The names of all of the artists in the above list appear in WHO’s Who in American Art. I could continue reading to you such a list until I had finished giving you a record of the 1,600 artists now at work under the project. If I told you their names I know you would be astonished to realize how many of them you know,
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and I am positive that it would dissipate any idea that you might have that we are employing those who are uninitiated in the arts and those who play at being artists. We are trying to select with the utmost impartiality, and without regard for schools of art, serious professional workers in the field of art.
I have mentioned the volunteer workers on our regional committees. These men and women are working with such inspired enthusiasm as to prove the effect which this project has upon those who are not receiving any monetary benefits.
Let me quote again at random from our files: I find a letter from Mr. Jesse L. Nusbaum, director of the Laboratory of Anthropology, that invaluable museum at Santa Fe, the chairman of the regional committee for that district, who says: "Just for your personal information I wish to add that Mr. Chapman and I have devoted our time since before the middle of December, including holidays and Sundays and many evenings, to the art project nearly to the exclusion of any work whatever for the Laboratory of Anthropology which employs us."
In the files of another regional chairman we find the following: "i am devoting 5 days and evenings a week to this work, an amount of time which the museum is willing for us to give to it, but I must put aside 2 days for museum work."
These quotations from committee reports could be repeated 16 times, and in this connection I wish to state that the inspiration with which our project has fired our voluntary workers has also fired the members of the Washington office not merely on the art side of the set-up but also on the business side. These men keep no holidays. Both committees and their assistants have had their imaginations fired by the high civilizing possibilities of keeping alive the creative forces of this country and stimulating them to still greater efforts which the Government is now cultivating through the Public Works of Art Project.
The artists of the country have responded to this great gesture with the degree of intensity that the sensitive and imaginative would be expected to feel. The craftsmen's wages that they are receiving are accepted gratefully as a means of providing their material wants, but to them this movement means far more. They are accepting is as the greatest opportunity that the artists of this or any other country have ever had to show their mettle. As a call to them to make good and to prove that they have something worthwhile to say. As an opportunity to sell themselves to the country. They are meeting the challenge.
I want to read to you a few extracts from the hundreds of letters which we are receiving from artists. I wish you could read them all.
One artist writes: "It will have a most salutary effect on the artists working on the national project for higher idealism. If the art of our land is to survive, it is certainly the plain duty of those responsible for its development to keep step with our President in his difficult task of guiding us through these dark days."
From another artist: "I am sure that I can vouch for the majority of the men in my profession doing the best work they are capable of, as the true artist is ever more ready to give than to receive. The governmental gesture is splendid and most helpful for the future of art in America."
From another: "this move by the United States Government is, indeed, a noble gesture and will bring many excellent pieces of work by men who never had a chance * * * I am heart and soul behind you."
From another artist: "I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity I am being given and the plan has been a tremendous boon at a time when our prospects are at lowest ebb. Associates of mine also working on the project feel the way I do."
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Transcription Notes:
The word 'sensitive' is misspelled in the original as 'sensative' Corrected a few words with letters switched Replaced "never had a chance ... I am heart" with "never had a chance * * * I am heart"