LaborFest Guided Tour Of The American Scene New Deal Art, 1935

LaborFest will host a guided tour by Harvey Smith of an important new exhibition on New Deal Art between 1935 and 1943 at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek.

Sunday 11/28/2010 2:00 PM LaborFest Guided Tour Of The American Scene New Deal Art, 1935-1943 At Bedford Gallery

Join LaborFest Organizing Committee member Harvey Smith who is also a WPA historian and California's Living New Deal collaborator in a narrated guide on the important exhibition going on at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek.
Details follow:


directions
Bedford Gallery is located on the first floor of the Lesher Center for the Arts at 1601 Civic Drive in downtown Walnut Creek, four blocks south of the Walnut Creek BART station. There is a public garage adjacent to the Center as well as metered street parking.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bedford+gallery,+Walnut+Creek,+CA+94596&sll=37.903506,-122.063019&sspn=0.008127,0.013218&ie=UTF8&ll=37.902998,-122.063062&spn=0.008127,0.013218&z=16

http://www.bedfordgallery.org/current.htm
The American Scene
New Deal Art, 1935-1943
October 3 - December 19, 2010

2010 is the 75th anniversary of the launching of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) in 1935, the WPA was the largest New Deal agency, employing millions to carry out public works projects. The Federal Art Project (FAP) put thousands of artists to work creating more than 200,000 separate works, including posters, murals, and paintings.

To celebrate the WPA anniversary, we open Bedford Gallery's 2010-11 Exhibition Season with The American Scene: New Deal Art, 1935-1943.

The American Scene brings together works by more than 65 artists who found work with the FAP, some of whom lived in the Bay Area during the Great Depression. Thousands of artists created visual artworks, and struggling musicians, actors and writers got jobs with the music, theater and writing divisions. Each of these artists played a role in enriching a population that had suffered tremendous economic setbacks.

During FDR's presidency, America was grappling with an economic situation that feels all too familiar today. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, Roosevelt's administration understood how essential art was to sustaining America's spirit. The FAP not only employed struggling artists but also provided them with a sense of pride in serving their country. About the program Roosevelt remarked, "One-hundred years from now my administration will be know for its art, not for its relief."

The Bedford's WPA exhibition provides our audiences the chance to see artworks that have been out of the public eye or in storage since the 1940's and later. We have borrowed artworks from several WPA repositories including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and many private collections. The exhibition also features several photographs by influential American documentary photographer Dorothea Lange. Rich in imagery, The American Sceneincludes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, and photographs depicting home and farm, city and factory life, landscapes, and the American people at work and play.

Bedford Gallery is the only art venue in Northern California organizing a major show to honor the WPA anniversary, and we are proud to have the opportunity to present this exhibition that profiles a momentous and significant piece of American history. We are grateful to our exhibition sponsors Wells Fargo Bank, Lesher Foundation, and the Diablo Regional Arts Association for their support of The American Scene.

- Carrie Lederer, Curator of Exhibitions

This exhibition has been generously sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank, Diablo Regional Arts Association, and the Lesher Foundation. Thank you as well to our media sponsor, Contra Costa Times.

artists

Ida Abelman (1910-2002)
Karl H.Baumann (1911-1984)
Fred Becker (1913-2004)
George Biddle (1885-1973)
Julius Bloch (1888-1966)
Helen Bruton (1898-1985)
Beniamino Bufano (1898-1970)
Pedro Cervantez (1915-1987)
Chin Chee (1896-1966)
Ralph Chessé (1900-1991)
David P. Chun (1898-1989)
June Dale
Harold Mallette Dean (1907-1975)
Pele DeLappe (1916-2007)
Marguerite Redman Dorgeloh (1890-1944)
Marjorie Eakin (1910-1974)
Millard Everingham (1912-1951)
Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997)
James Fitzgerald (1910-1973)
Todros Geller (1889-1949)
Elizabeth Ginno
Harry Gottlieb (1895-1993)
Blanch Grambs (1916-2010)
Nils Gren (1893-1940)
John Haley (1905-1991)
Milton Hebald (b. 1917)
John Langley Howard (1902-1999)
Reuben Kadish (1913-1992)
Dong Kingman (1911-2000)
Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)
Jennie Lewis (1892-1944)
Erle Loran (1905-1999)
Jan Marfyak (1907-1990)
John McCrady (1911-1968)
Domenico Mortellito (1906-1994)
Arthur G. Murphy (1906-1991)
Justin Murray (1912-1987)
Ann Rice O'Hanlon (1908-1998)
Mine Okubo (1912-2001)
Otis Oldfield (1890-1960)
Emmy Lou Packard (1914-1998)
Rondal Partridge (b. 1917)
Salvatore Pinto (1905-1966)
Alexis Angelo Podchernikoff (1912-1987)
Gregorio Prestopino (1907-1984)
Walter Quirt (1902-1968)
Mildred Rackley (1906-1992)
Anton Refregier (1906-1979)
Andrée Schafer Rexroth (1902-1940)
Diego Rivera (1886-1957)
Lala Eve Rivol (1913-1966)
John Saccaro (1913-1981)
Suzanne Scheuer (1898-1984)
Jacques Schnier (1898-1988)
Ben Shahn (1898-1969)
Marian Hahn Simpson (1899-1978)
Angelo A. Sottosanti (1917-2004)
Raphael Soyer (1899-1987)
Joseph Sparks (1896-1975)
Clay Edgar Spohn (1989-1977)
Joseph Vogel (1911-1998)
Herman Volz (1904-1990)
Albert James Webb (1891-)
Glenn Wessels (1895-1982)
Bernard Zakheim (1896-1985)

http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/news/?p=21
Major WPA Art Exhibition in Walnut Creek
Posted on September 30, 2010 by gbrechin
National New Deal Preservation Association president and California’s Living New Deal collaborator Harvey Smith has, with gallery curator Carrie J. Lederer, culled collections in California and beyond for a major show of New Deal art at the Lesher Center for the Arts Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. The American Scene: New Deal Art, 1935-1943, commemorates the 75th anniversary of the WPA which briefly sponsored a volcanic output from painters, sculptors, printmakers, musicians, actors, and writers. This major exhibition — assembling a wealth of art largely unseen for seven decades — will run from October 3-December 19, 2010. A free reception will be held at the gallery October 5, 6-8 PM at the Gallery. Visit http://www.bedfordgallery.org for more information.