image

Media Room

Exhibitions

Headlines

Calendar









1934: A New Deal for Artists opens February 16

The Muskegon Museum of Art will host the only Michigan appearance of 1934: A New Deal for Artists, a nationally touring exhibition from the Smithsonian American Art Museum that celebrates the 75th anniversary of the first New Deal arts program—the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). The exhibition opens at the MMA February 16, 2012 with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and a special lecture at 7:00 p.m.

The reception and lecture will be free and open to the public. The exhibition will run through May 6, 2012.


The 55 paintings in 1934: A New Deal for Artists are drawn from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s unparalleled collection of artworks created for the PWAP and form a visual record of America in 1934—the worst year of the Great Depression. The 1934 exhibition was requested from the Smithsonian for the MMA’s 100th Year exhibition roster as a fitting complement to the MMA’s collection, particularly one of its best-known paintings, Tornado Over Kansas. The great American Regionalist painter John Steuart Curry created this painting in 1929 at the beginning of the Depression. MMA director Frank Atwood Almy purchased it in 1935, on the cusp of that historic moment in time.


In 1934, Americans grappled with an economic crisis that feels all too familiar today. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration created the Public Works of Art Project—the first federal government program to support the arts nationally. The program enlisted artists all across America to paint murals and canvases depicting “the American Scene” for display in public buildings. Regional subjects, including labor and leisure, city and rural life, nature and people, reminded the public of quintessential American values of hard work, community, and optimism.

Though the PWAP was short-lived—it lasted from December 1933 to June 1934—the works of art created with government support by grateful artists during the height of the Depression are some of art history’s finest testaments to American life and its can-do pioneer spirit.

The Muskegon Museum of Art presents 1934:  A New Deal for Artists as part of a comprehensive program in collaboration with Grand Valley State University. The GVSU Art Gallery, Allendale campus, has organized a special exhibition, Regionalism and the Art of the WPA:  Selections from the Muskegon Museum of Art, to be presented at the GVSU Art Gallery from January 16 through March 23, 2012. Additionally, several programs scheduled to coincide with both exhibitions feature GVSU faculty, staff, and students, and are open to both GVSU students and the general public.


1934: A New Deal for Artists is organized and circulated by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with support from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Endowment Fund and the Smithsonian Council for American Art. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.


This exclusive Michigan presentation is sponsored by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County and Grand Valley State University. Programming is made possible through a grant from the support from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and through additional support from Grand Valley State University; the Our Daily Lives, Our Daily Work Program at MSU; and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Media sponsors are WGVU Public Radio and the Muskegon Chronicle.


High-resolution press images available at the MMA website media room:
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934sheetsTenement6x5.jpg
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934richardsonNegrosAgriculture4x6.jpg
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934kelpeMachinery6x4.jpg
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934eckelRadioBroadcast6x5.jpg
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934dickinsonValleyFarms6x5.jpg
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934brackmanSomewhereAmerican5x6.jpg
http://muskegonartmuseum.org//download/1934bettersworthChristopherStreet5x6.jpg

RELATED PROGRAMS
All programs will be held at the Muskegon Museum of Art and are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

January 16 through March 23, 2012

Regionalism and the Art of the WPA: Selections from the Muskegon Museum of Art

At Grand Valley State University
The GVSU Art Gallery, Allendale campus, will display an exhibition of Regionalist WPA-era works of art drawn from the MMA collection this winter. An opening celebration for the exhibition will be held at the GVSU Art Gallery on Thursday, January 19, starting at 5:00 pm. The reception is free and open to the public.

Thursdays, 1:00-3:00 pm

Open Tours

1934: A New Deal for Artists

Drop in for a tour led by MMA docents. Reservations are not required. Underwritten by Alcoa Foundation/Howmet.

Thursday, February 16
1934: A New Deal for Artists
Opening Event at the MMA
5:30 pm Reception 
Celebrate the opening of 1934: A New Deal for Artists—newly arrived from the Smithsonian American Museum of Art. 
7:00 pm Lecture
New Deal Artists: Context and Culture 
Presented by Susan Bandes, MSU Art History Professor 
Most New Deal art was representational and rooted in a sense of place. Bandes will consider several artists in her lecture—including Ivan Albright, Paul Kelpe, Ilya Bolotowsky, and Millard Sheets—placing their paintings in the exhibition within the context of their distinguished careers. Additionally, she will discuss how WPA artists such as Charles Pollock and Edgar Yaeger responded to commissions in Michigan. Bandes is a Professor of Art History at Michigan State University and the Co-Director of the MSU Museum Studies Program. She also serves as adjunct curator at the Michigan State University Museum. 
 
FDR, Live! A New Deal Historical Performance 
Presented by John Hamant
5:30 pm Reception
7:00 pm Performance
MMA Auditorium
Actor John Hamant’s portrayal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was developed for a special Colonial Williamsburg historical site program. Hamant performed as the 32nd president at the site over the next nine years, and now brings FDR to life for more distant audiences. Hamant holds a B.F.A. in Theatrical Production and an M.A. in Acting and Directing. A life-long interest in history prompted him to turn from a full-time acting career to the educational efforts of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
 
Sundays, March 4 & 18, 1:00-2:00 pm
Sunday Tours/1934: A New Deal for Artists
Drop in for a tour led by MMA docents. Reservations are not required. free for MMA members and Muskegon Community College students, or with paid Museum admission. Underwritten by the Alcoa Foundation/Howmet. Stay after tours for Cinema Sundays films at 2:00 pm, underwritten by Muskegon Community College.
 
Sunday, March 4, 2:00 pm
Cinema Sundays Film
Gabriel Over the White House
Director: Gregory La Cava, 1933, 86 mins.
In this provocative vision of a future Roosevelt-like administration, a callous president is a changed man after a serious accident, embarking on a bizarre and fascist-tinged reformation of the country before bending international relations to his surreal vision of “world peace.” Presented by E.J. Hamacher. Admission is free for MMA members and Muskegon Community College students, or with paid Museum admission. Cinema Sundays are underwritten by Muskegon Community College.
 
Thursday, March 15, 7:00 pm
Pare Lorentz, New Deal filmmaker
Lecture and Film Presented by E.J. Hamacher
Film: The River (1938), Written and directed by Pare Lorentz. Score by Virgil Thomson. Winner “Best Documentary” at the 1938 Venice Film Festival.
Lecture: Funded by FDR’s Resettlement Administration, the short-lived U.S. Film Service (1935-40) bucked Hollywood and set out to make its own films about the struggles of the American people. Outspoken film critic Pare Lorentz was put in charge of this new program and he recruited a stable of top talent from the radical artists associated with the New York Film and Photo League. Together they re-invented the bland newsreel and set it on the path towards the gripping style of investigative documentary film we know and love today.
 
Sunday, March 18, 2:00 pm
Cinema Sundays Film
Native Land
Directors Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand, 1942, 80 mins.
Based on testimony from the 1938 U.S. Senate La Follette Committee on Civil Liberties, this radical, independently-produced docudrama builds an uncompromising argument for organized labor by dramatizing real-life violations of the Bill of Rights in the early 1930s by the greedy owners of corporate Big Business. Presented by E.J. Hamacher. Admission is free for MMA members and Muskegon Community College students, or with paid Museum admission. Cinema Sundays are underwritten by Muskegon Community College.
 
Thursday, March 22, 7:00 pm
Musical Performance 
Aaron Copeland & the Cradle Will Rock  
Presented by Grand Valley State University Chamber Music Ensemble & Opera Theater Program 
This program will include selections of works from the 1930s, performed by El Quinteto Pingüino—a Grand Valley State University chamber music ensemble, arrangements of works by Aaron Copeland featuring Marlen Vavrikova on the oboe and Robert Byrens on the piano, and Grand Valley State University Opera Theater students, under the direction of Dale Schriemer, performing selections from Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 musical, “The Cradle Will Rock.” The original production, produced by John Houseman, was directed by Orson Wells and was part of the Federal Theater Project. Marlen Vavrika is an Associate Professor of Music and Robert Byrens is an Affiliate Professor of Music, both at Grand Valley State University. Dale Schriemer is an Associate Professor of Voice and the Artistic Director of the Opera Theater program at Grand Valley State University.
 
Thursday, March 29, 7:00 pm
Quilt Lecture
Making Do…Surviving the Great Depression
Presented by Kathy Kansier
Learn what events caused the Great Depression and what life was like during that time. Ms. Kansier will share photos, aprons, doilies, fabrics, and quilts from the time when everyone learned how to “make do.” Bring your own quilts from the 1930s and learn more about them from this award-winning quilter, educator, designers and AQS certified quilt appraiser.
 
Thursday, April 5, 6:00 pm
An Evening of Student and Worker Writers
Reception & Reading 
Presented by John P. Beck, Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lives Project at Michigan State University
Enjoy readings by both Grand Valley State University students and Michigan worker writers that touch on the experience of working. The student writers are from the classes of Grand Valley State University professors Patricia Clark and Sean Prentiss. The worker writers are current or retired employees from General Motors, the Postal Service, and other workplaces. Refreshments will be provided.
 
Thursday, April 12, 7:00 pm
The 1930s and The New Deal: A Panel Discussion
Panelists will discuss historical and sociological topics surrounding the 1930s and the New Deal.
Guest Panelists
Gleaves Whitney, Director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University; John Beck, Michigan State University Associate Professor and Director of Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lives Project at Michigan State University; 
E.J. Hamacher, film historian; and Matthew Lawrence Daley, Associate Professor of History at Grand Valley State University. Henry Matthews, Director of Galleries and Collections at Grand Valley State University, will moderate the discussion.
 

###

VISITOR INFORMATION

The Muskegon Museum of Art is located at 296 W. Webster Ave. in downtown Muskegon. Call 231-720-2570 or visit www.muskegonartmuseum.org for information.

Admission: $7.00 (Free on Thursdays), free admission for MMA Members, for
students (with I.D.), and for children ages 17 and under.
Extra admission may be charged for special exhibitions and events.

Hours:
SUN noon-4:30pm
MON & TUES closed
WED 10am-4:30pm
THURS 10am-8pm
FRI 10am-4:30pm
SAT 10am-4:30pm

Museum Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm

 

MEDIA CONTACT:
Marguerite Gawron, tel. 231.720.2574, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Muskegon Museum of Art
Office secretary: 231.720.2571

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, 2012