WPA Art Lecture at Milford Public Library, November 12th

WPA expert Ann Trout will bring to life the work done under the Works Project Administration. She’ll discuss the Federal Arts Project in Connecticut, the works commissioned in Milford, those that have been found and the art that’s still missing. The discussion will take place on Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00 PM at the Milford Public Library, 57 New Haven Avenue, Milford, CT.

The lecture is part of Milford Arts Council’s Adopt-a-Mural fund-raising effort to restore a fragment of They Shall Pass This Way But Once, a WPA mural that for nearly 40 years hung in the Central Grammar School and which when restored, will hang in the Library.

“We are delighted to be working jointly with the Milford Public Library on presenting this information to the Milford community,” said Milford Arts Council Director Paige Miglio. “And we are grateful to the Friends of Milford Library for funding this lecture.”

Almost every community in the United States had a new park, bridge or school constructed by the WPA during the Great Depression. Under the Federal Art Project, the visual arm of the WPA, artists created more than 200,000 posters, prints, sculptures, paintings, drawings, and murals which were then, in turn, loaned to schools, libraries, galleries, and other institutions. In Connecticut, some 160 artists created over 5000 pieces of art. To qualify for work in under the program, artists had to meet the professional standards as artists, and also the relief requirements of their state WPA relief board. After being selected to be on the project, artists were reviewed periodically and could be removed from a project if their financial status changed or if their work was unsatisfactory. The federal government usually paid the artists’ salaries (about $1 a hour) while local towns and cities allocated dollars for supplies and other miscellaneous expenses.

Among the works commissioned in Milford which have been located are the mural They Shall Pass This Way But Once by Frank Rutkoski and Louis Agostini, which once hung in the lobby of the Central Grammar School, the Ship, an oil by Rolston Keeler which has been restored and hangs in the Mayor’s office and an untitled oil by Cornelia Vetter. Additional works of the period have been found, including four murals by Wendell Austin

The programs of the Federal Art Project spawned a new awareness of and appreciation for American art. They also provided jobs for needy out-of-work artists as well as art for non-federal government buildings, such as schools, hospitals and libraries.

For more information, please call Milford Arts Council at 203-878-6647.

Photos: Amy Trout, art historian and curator of the Essex River Museum.

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