dieser beitrag wurde verfasst in: englisch (eng/en)
verfasserin/verfasser: Helen A. Harrison
titel: Art for the Millions or Art for the Market?
+: in: Remembering the Future, New York 1989, pp. 137—165
«In 1939, the Fair's theme, 'Building the World of Tomorrow,' suggested that the overall approach would be visionary, with implications that transcended the temporary nature of the exposition itself. The policy of the federal government, which had established the first of its art patronage programs in 1933, found expression two years later in the recommendations of the Fair of the Future Committee, which prepared the original proposal for a fair reflecting the essential interdependence of all aspects of the American way of life. Acting on this suggestion, the Board of Design noted that 'decorative painting, murals and sculpture are necessary in the architectural scheme of the Fair,' and the Committee on Theme directed that 'art activities should be closely related to daily life.'
As an expression of this concept, the numerous buildings erected by the Fair Corporation for official use or rental by exhibitors were furnished with embellishments commissioned by the Fair, and additional commissions were awarded for sculpture on the grounds. Altogether, more than a hundred painters and sculptors were employed, and many others worked privately for exhibitors, producing a total of 158 murals (some multi-paneled) and 173 sculptures, most of them made expressly for the Fair.» (p. 138)
«During the 1940 season, a similar but smaller show of work from the FAP was held, along with exhibitions organized by such outside groups as the American Abstract Artists and the National Society of Mural Painters.»
«The National Society of Mural Painters, dominated by academicians, was out in force, but there were also significant contributions by such leading abstracionists as Stuart Davis, Fernand Léger, and Lyonel Feininger […]. Younger painters, including Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning, were represented by prominent murals, and FAP sponsorship allowed the inclusion of abstract wall paintings by Ilya Bolotowsky, Balcomb Greene, Byron Browne, and Louis Schanker, as well as an important group of innovative representational murals for the WPA Building.
The Fairs's Information Manual noted that all outdoor murals, including those of private exhibitors, had been approved by the Board of Design in order to ensure that 'every element of building and decoration will blend with and carry out the theme and plan of the Fair.' […] At the Contemporary Arts Building, visitors could see a truly representative cross section of current artistic approaches, from the 'American Scene' realism of Thomas Hart Benton, John Stuart Curry, and Grant Wood to the non-objective stulpture of David Smith.»