Lily Furedi, "Subway", 1934. Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Before the economic stimulus package passed the House and Senate, some legislators balked at the bill because it included $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. A timely new show at The Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburg exhibits work from the first time the government allocated money for the arts. 1934: A New Deal for Artists includes 54 of the over 15,000 works created as a result of Roosevelt’s Public Works of Art Project.
The painting above is shown in the exhibition. From the Smithsonian website:
As always, New Yorkers of every class except the destitute and the very wealthy sat side by side in the subway, the subject of a painting by Lily Furedi; the tuxedoed man dozing in his seat turns out, on closer inspection, to be a musician on his way to or from a job, while a young white woman across the aisle sneaks a glance at the newspaper held by the black man sitting next to her. None of this would seem unfamiliar today, except for the complete absence of litter or graffiti in the subway car, but one wonders how legislators from below the Mason-Dixon line might have felt about supporting a racially progressive artwork with taxpayers’ money.
“Subway” and the rest of the works included in the exhibition will be on display from January 30th – April 25th, 2010 with an opening celebration the evening of January 29th.
