American, 1896-1981 Flowers, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 30 1/4” x 24” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Vincent D’Agostino studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in the city where he was born, and later with the renowned American artists George Bellows and Charles Webster Hawthorne. While employed by the WPA, D’Agostino participated in the Federal Art Project (FAP), which lasted from 1935-1942. Throughout the duration of the FAP, approximately 2,500 large-scale public murals were produced. However, prints, sculptures, and smaller easel paintings such as D’Agostino’s Flowers eventually emerged as the division’s main focus. The FAP gave American artists an opportunity to develop and practice their craft. Federal Art Project (FAP) Living New Deal
Still Life
American, 1888-1960 Flowers, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 29 1/2” x 23 1/4” The Brooklyn College Library Collection In 1913, Allen Lee Swisher studied with Jean-Paul Laurens at the renowned Académie Julian in Paris, and later in New York with Harry Mills Walcott. He is known predominantly as a portrait painter. Swisher painted this lush and abundant bouquet of wildflowers with confidence and verve. His exuberance perhaps reflects the optimism the WPA engendered in many aspiring American artists. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Untitled (Still Life with Chair), c. 1935-1943 Oil on canvas 29” x 23 3/4” The Brooklyn College Library Collection The effects of Modernism have evidently inspired the artist who painted this enigmatic still life. The bowl of fruit has been rendered as if the artist is looking at it from various angles, and the simultaneous, multiple perspectives of the shell and open box recall Braque and Picasso’s early experiments with Cubism. The jacket with a ruffled pocket square, and the portrait propped up against the chair-back enhance the painting’s sense of mystery Federal Art Project Living New Deal
American, 1911-1992 Magnolia, c.1935-1943 Pastel 19 3/8” x 14” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Born to an Italian immigrant family in New Haven, CT., Volpe eventually migrated to Hollywood where he designed both sets and costumes for the film industry. His portraits of movie stars such as Spencer Tracy, Betty Davis, and Katherine Hepburn won him a lifetime contract to execute portraits for the Academy Awards. This led to further commissions from top recording artists and sports luminaries, as well as major political figures such as John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill. Volpe was twenty-six years old and practicing his craft when he created this delicate pastel while working for the WPA Federal Art Project Living New Deal
