Rachael Rifkin
Staff Writer
The Long Beach Historical Society’s much anticipated exhibit, “Rebuilding for the Future: A New Deal for Long Beach 1933-1942,” represents the culmination of years of research dedicated to finding and inventorying murals, mosaics, art work, and other projects commissioned by the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). Now open and running through Dec. 31, 2011, the Historical Society will also host several public programs, including an Aug. 5 talk on the Long Beach Museum of Art’s New Deal Easel Art Collection given by the museum’s director of collections Sue Ann Robinson.
Funded in part by a grant from the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association, the exhibit features archival prints, historical ephemera, and photographer J. Christopher Launi’s recently taken images of the Depression era murals, mosaics and sculptures featured throughout the city.
“I was approached about this project at least two years ago. I think they approached me because I had worked on the book Long Beach Art Deco, which pertained to the reconstruction effort after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. The WPA-funded projects— that whole look and art deco style— coincides with that time period,” Launi said. “I still had some of the pictures I gathered for the book, but most of the photos used in the exhibit were taken over the last six to nine months.”
This exhibit comes 20 years after the late art historian Dr. Douglas Hinkey and Hippodrome Gallery art director Cynthia MacMullin prepared a New Deal art exhibit that included a show and bus tour of the 10 remaining public art projects (the four others were demolished, removed or painted over). Later that year, Hinkey, who also authored The Art of the RMS Queen Mary, published Federal Art in Long Beach: A Heritage Rediscovered. When Hinkey’s wife, Scottie, donated his notes and research to the Historical Society, they were inspired to incorporate Hinkey’s work into an exhibit that celebrated the legacy and importance of the New Deal in Long Beach.
Most of the WPA murals, mosaics and sculptures adorn schools repaired or rebuilt after the 1933 earthquake. Other well known projects include the “Recreation in Long Beach” mosaic, which was moved from its original location at the Municipal Auditorium to a parking structure on 3rd Street in Downtown Long Beach, and the mosaic-tiled floor at the Long Beach Airport. Less known projects included funding for health menaces and rodent control, sewer and road projects, the Naples canal walls, public utility projects, writers’ projects, construction of runways and art at the airport, and music programs at the Municipal Auditorium.
The exhibit features WPA projects at the Long Beach Airport, Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Wilson High School, Long Beach Public Library, Jane Addams Elementary School, Lindbergh Middle School, Washington Middle School, Rogers Middle School, and Fire Station Number 7. A section on public buildings highlights the Port of Long Beach, St. Mary Medical Center, a sample of easel art from the Long Beach Museum of Art’s permanent collection, the Veteran’s Memorial building, and sewer construction.
The LBHS will continue to explore the lasting effects of the New Deal with a series of four public programs. Robinson’s August 5th talk will focus on the often overlooked easel paintings artists produced under the WPA program. In the 2009 essay “Surviving Hard Times: WPA Artists,” Robinson said that painters were hired by the WPA for $24 to $34 per week and produced works in their studios or as a result of their travels. When easel paintings were being distributed at the end of the program, Long Beach mostly selected landscape paintings.
“The public is not aware that there were a lot of paintings made through the WPA,” Robinson said. “Since the paintings weren’t attached to walls like the murals were, they tended to migrate around. As people find them, they’re put back into a public venue like a museum. They are also being catalogued in Washington D.C. at the General Services Administration. Part of the goal is to find them all again.”
Robinson’s talk will cover a variety of artists, including George Henry Melcher (the museum has 16 of his paintings in their permanent collection), Dana Bartlett and F. Grayson Sayre. Other accompanying public programs include a Sept. 2 talk on the LBUSD School New Deal Projects, a Oct. 7 talk on Locals and the New Deal and a Nov. 4 talk on Art and Architecture at the Long Beach Airport.
The show runs through Dec. 31. Exhibition hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1pm to 5pm, Thursdays 1pm to 7pm and Saturdays 11am to 5pm.
