Newly Discovered
While I was in Rhode Island last week, a coincidental discovery occurred — just in time for me to insert into the Monday Mural posts. Lost or forgotten murals at University of RI (URI) were recently discovered behind dry wall that was installed during a renovation in Edward’s Hall. They were painted in the 1940’s by Gino Conti as part of the Federal WPA effort (Works Projects Administration, during the Depression to help artists have income. Click the photo links to go directly to the Providence Journal and the Boston Globe articles to read more. It seems like I was just writing about the WPA and recently discovered murals in…
Bookish Murals
Libraries are not only wonderful, calm places to read and explore books, but also to see murals. Here’s one in the Earlscourt Library in Toronto. This is an incredible story because the murals, originally painted by Doris McCarthy in 1932, were painted over during a renovation. The locals remembered the original murals and how much delight they brought. They raised $12,000 to uncover just one mural. Today the entire set of murals can be seen thanks to $2.54 million restoration. Lesson: “modernization” shouldn’t forget intrinsic value. Here’s another mural that had long been covered up in a former public library in New Orleans. Dr. Sylvi Beaumont purchased the structure and…
You May Also Like
Philadelphia and Murals 2
Giving it Up for the GSA…
…and other federal artistic watchdogs, like the “florist-in-chief.” What does this mean? Well, firstly, there was a fascinating article in Washington Post that describes how the GSA (General Services Administration — a federal watchdog agency) is on a hunt to recover “lost” artwork from the Depression, which was created as part of the WPA (New Deal Works Progress Administration), to help artists have employment and document historical art. At the time, the government paid artists up to $42 a week. This was a large amount back then and a life preserver during our nation’s worst financial crisis. Over 20,000 works of art were created in response. The value of these…
