A Rendezvous with Destiny: 1930s American Art, the new online exhibition from Helicline Fine Art, begins today, September 7 through November 5, 2023.
The exhibition features a variety of artistic styles and subject matters from urban, industrial and rural to abstract, people working and scenes of everyday life. For New York City based artists, the City itself was glorified on canvas, paper and bronze. Several of the artists who thrived during that period are still well known today, but most are obscure. The exhibition, of predominantly 1930s artworks, features that range.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition, “Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s” celebrates the American spirit during the depression era and serves as the inspiration for Helicline Fine Art’s new exhibition.
After the stock market crash of 1929, Americans experienced a time of great transition at every level of society. After a terrible slump, the men and women of the country came together to rebuild the economy, their lives and their spirits.
For the first time, our government paid artists to create. To this day, many Federal buildings – post offices, court houses, schools, hospitals, administrative buildings – still have the murals of WPA artists emblazoned on the walls and statues standing in courtyards. The work of these artists reflected that renewal.
The artists of that generation are being rediscovered in 2023 and for generations into the future, thanks to the Met’s new exhibition, and galleries that keep the modernist art flame burning.
Helicline’s proprietors, Keith Sherman and Roy Goldberg, recall discovering the WPA period. “We had just moved into our first apartment, constructed in 1929, on the Upper West Side. In attempting to furnish our home we realized we had no sense of style or taste. We spent time in the Strand Book Store to see what homes looked like in the 20s and 30s,” said Goldberg. “We discovered Art Deco, the Machine Age, the WPA and more. We spent time in museums, art fairs and something that has disappeared from the cultural landscape, antique shows, where we developed our eye. Today we are collectors turned dealers still collecting. The WPA period is in our hearts,” added Sherman.
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Stuart Davis (1892-1964), N.Y. Street Signs, 1938, 11 1/4 x 15 1/4. Gouache on paper. Signed lower right.
Highlights of A Rendezvous with Destiny: 1930s American Art include a bold Stuart Davis gouache on paper; a “Mercury” bronze by Joseph Freedlander that sat on top of 5th Avenue traffic lights from the 1930s-60s; two works by Daniel Celentano (Thomas Hart Benton’s first and youngest student), many works depicting New York City, including a Cecil Bell of street life under the EL train
and a Reginald Marsh depicting the Brooklyn Bridge, mural studies, and a Mervin Jules oil of a tailor with astonishing perspective.
William Gropper (1898 – 1977) Unemployed 20 x 16 inches Oil on canvas, 1937 Signed lower right |
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Daniel Celentano (1902 – 1980) Going to the Festival 14 1/2 x 10 1/2 Watercolor on paper, c. 1930s Signed lower left |
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Bernard Gussow (1881 – 1957) Late Afternoon, Columbus Avenue, New York 19 1/4 x 23 1/4 inches. Oil on Canvas, c. 1920s Signed lower left |
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George Grosz (1891 – 1959) New York City Scene 17 x 12 inches Watercolor on paper Signed and dated 33, lower left Vintage frame |
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Aaron Bohrod (American, 1907 – 1992) Industrial Cityscape 20 x 16 inches Oil on board Signed lower right and verso Carved vintage frame |
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David Fredenthal (1914 – 1958) Brick Layers 21 x 15 inches Watercolor on Paper, c. 1938 Signed lower left |
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Eve Drewelow (1899 – 1989) Arcturus, Helsingfors 19 x 16 inches oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 1935, 33/30C lower right. |
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Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994) Perplexed Gentleman New Yorker cover proposal, c. 1939 13 1/4 X 8 3/4 inches (sight) Gouache on board
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