Lot Details
Lot 80
James Henry Daugherty
American, 1889-1974
Recreation I, mural study for Social Room, Fairfield County, Stamford, CT, 1936
Estate stamped on the reverse
Watercolor, gouache and graphite pencil on paper laid down on paper
16 3/4 x 29 inches
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
Janet Marquesee Fine Arts, New York
Exhibited:
Poughkeepsie, NY, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Heroic America: James Daugherty's Mural Drawings from the 1930s, Apr. 3-Jun. 7, 1998
New York, Susan Teller Gallery, The Family Business: 1877-2005, Jul. 13 - Aug. 26, 2005
James Daugherty began his career as a muralist with a set of four monumental paintings in the lobby of the Loew's State Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio - a full decade before Thomas Hart Benton painted his own ambitious wall project, America Today, for the New School for Social Research. By now an accomplished muralist, in 1933 Daugherty was living with his young family in Connecticut, when he, along with six other members of the Silvermine Guild, were given an exhibition at the Montross Gallery in Manhattan. An Art News reporter remarked upon his work, reporting that he "'seems to stand out in the gathering. He so evidently conceives on a large scale. [and] the Sketch for a Mural implies that the artist has seriously considered architectural settings for his material."
Timing is everything, and Daugherty was thus ideally positioned as a potential candidate for the New Deal Arts projects initiated under the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Rebecca E. Lawton writes:
"During a six-year period from the end of 1933 to 1939, Daugherty experienced the full extent of federal art patronage under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal art projects. At various times, he worked for all four art projects -- the PWAP, WPA, the Section, and TRAP -- creating murals for schools, a municipal office, a low-cost housing development, and a post office."
Among these were a series of murals in Stamford, commissioned in 1935 for the Social Room at Fairfield Court, one of the new public housing projects, which the PWA was building under the federal government's new and highly controversial initiative to provide low-cost housing for working Americans.
"Daugherty's initial idea for the cycle consisted of eight murals incorporating the themes of Home from Work; Outdoor Sports (New Leisure); Boy Scouts (Youth Movements); American Family; Social Life; Work; Recreation; and Community Life. Daugherty's second version preserved only two of the themes, Home from Work and Social Life.. Daugherty's conception of contemporary social life is a marvelous example of his working method, beginning with a black and white study to analyze the compositional movement and a sense of abstract patterning before adding color. In these drawings, his ability to experiment with the image by changing and rearranging figures to construct the scene is especially evident..He also presented the rage for leisure-time activities in the 1930s, an issue the Progressive Movement promoted to workers as a way to maintain their energy, mental health, and family relationships.
"Daugherty's superb draftsmanship captured the high spirits of Americans enjoying activities such as sightseeing by car, and more athletic activities such as horseback riding, sailing, golf, and tennis. Ironically, these amusements, once only accessible to the wealthy, became during the Depression an increasing part of middle-class life. Daugherty's sense of humor is pervasive throughout the Fairfield Court mural cycle, but his enjoyment of satire is particularly evident in drawings of leisure time. For example, he did not neglect to include among the joyful activities, other less exciting forms of exercise, such as the onerous, inexorable task of mowing the lawn and other dreaded chores of suburban living."
The vibrant colors favored by Daugherty were criticized, and his initial designs for the project were rejected. In response, he created a new decorative program, executed in a more subdued palette. Interviewed by Life magazine for a feature on the Fairfield Court murals, Daugherty said "My murals are supposed to be good fun. They are not an analysis of anything. They are not intended to give intellectual nourishment to the underprivileged of Stamford. I have tried to tell a story in visual terms that can be easily associated with our immediate past."
Daugherty's activities were not restricted to the state of Connecticut. He was also considered for decorative schemes for the Customs House in the Battery Park district in New York City as well as municipal projects in other states. Sadly, many of Daugherty's murals were eventually painted over or lost. The studies presented here document the career of one of the most talented and prolific muralists of the WPA.
[All quotes are excerpted from Rebecca E. Lawton's catalogue essay from Heroic America: James Daugherty's Mural Drawings from the 1930s; Poughkeepsie, NY: The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, 1998).
C A New England Collection
Additional Notes & Condition Report
Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Doyle New York shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.
No condition report? Click here to request one.