New Deal Texas and the West exhibition opens at Crow Museum

The Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas in Richardson is currently hosting an exhibition titled New Deal Texas and the West. The show runs through July 18 and features 75 paintings, prints, sculptures, and textiles created during the 1930s.

The collection highlights federally funded art produced in response to the Great Depression, with many pieces drawn from the Dallas Museum of Art’s permanent collection and other loans.

Erika Doss, Ph.D., the Edith O’Donnell Distinguished Chair in Art History at the Edith O'Donnell Institute of Art History at UT Dallas, curated the exhibition. She noted that many people lack knowledge about the New Deal programs, often viewing them negatively or simply being unaware of their existence.

Doss explained that the programs were designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs following the global economic collapse of 1929.

The New Deal initiatives, which existed from 1933 to 1943, were established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to address poverty and unemployment. Doss emphasized that a primary goal was to provide work relief, including for artists. She pointed out that artists like Jackson Pollock honed their skills through these projects.

The federal programs left a lasting impact on Texas, contributing to the development of Fair Park, Dealey Plaza, and various post offices across the state.

Many of the works in the exhibition are on public display for the first time. Doss explained that when the New Deal programs ended in 1943, artworks were allocated to various institutions without a central inventory or catalog. The Dallas Museum of Art received between 75 and 90 pieces, which were stored in boxes for approximately 90 years.

Other institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, also received thousands of pieces. Doss noted that while some works have been forgotten or deaccessioned, they remain the property of the federal government, as indicated by stamps on some of the prints.

One gallery within the exhibition focuses on the value of work and the concept of employing people during uncertain times. It includes fabric from the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, which trained unskilled women in block printing and weaving. This project exemplified how the New Deal sought to engage a broad range of workers, including women, in productive labor.

Source: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

Sources

NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth