Current Exhibitions

Current Exhibitions

WORKING THROUGH
THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
Prints from the New York Regional Graphics Division of the Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project in the Godwin-Ternbach Museum Collection

Curated by Marilyn L. Simon and Amy H. Winter

February 9 – June 9, 2009

an exhibition at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, in collaboration with the Kupferberg Center for the Arts (www.kupferbergcenter.org)


	Harold Anchel (1912-1980) Dance Hall, ca. 1935-1941 Lithograph, 8 1/8 x 10" Godwin-Ternbach Museum, P234			Jacob Kainen (1909-2001) Tenement Fire Lithograph Godwin-Ternbach Museum, P350

Over 75 prints from the museum’s collection show the talent and diversity of artists supported by the WPA in the 1930s. Images of New Yorkers at work and play, at the automat and on the rooftops and sidewalks of New York, are exhibited alongside views of the Queensboro Bridge, the 1939 World’s Fair, Greenwich Village, and Coney Island.

Artists were critical to the representation of New York and the populist ideals of the Progressive era. But side by side with these buoyant images of are those of economic hardship and deprivation, the inevitable consequences of the Great Depression.

Exhibition support has been generously provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Queens College Office of the President, and the Friends of the Godwin-Ternbach Museum. The lecture series is funded by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For information on this program and other schedules, please call the Museum at 718-997-4747, or visit www.qc.cuny.edu/godwin_ternbach

Schedule of Events

Opening Reception:
February 18, 2009

Curators' talk: 5:30 pm
Reception: 6-7 pm

LECTURE SERIES: WPA Yesterday and Today
405 Klapper Hall

February 24, 2009, 6 pm
Independent art historian and curator Francis V. O’Connor - "Barack Obama's New Deal: The Situation of Federal Art Patronage in Hard Times"

Dr. Francis V. O'Connor is the author of three major publications on the New Deal art projects, was a consultant to the New York division of the Federal CETA art program in the late 1970s, and between 1974 and 1983 edited Federal Art Patronage Notes, a newsletter on government cultural policy.

March 11, 2009, 12:15 pm, 405 Klapper Hall
Art historian and New York City public art curator Michele Cohen - “Government Patronage: The New Deal and Now”- the history of government sponsorship of art, focusing on the Great Depression but considering recent controversies as well as the legacy and future of public art

March 24, 2008, 6pm
New York Times critic and former curator for the Museum of the City of New York - Bonnie Yochelson - "Berenice Abbott's Changing New York: The Trials and Triumphs of New Deal Patronage"

March 30, 2009, 5:30 pm
QC Art Education Professor, Rikki Asher - "Public Art on the Queens College Campus: The Creation of the Procession Mural" - a discussion of the process of creating a monumental mural with art education students and a visit to view the mural at the Benjamin Rosenthal Library

April 28, 2009 6 pm
Art historian and curator Russell Flinchum, - “Art and Industry and the 1939 New York World’s Fair” - the history and relations between early 20th-century art and industry and their culmination in the 1939 World's Fair at Flushing Meadows Park, Queens

May 6, 12:15 pm
New York City historian Jeffrey Kroessler - "The New Deal Landscape: Building for Prosperity" - public works programs of the New Deal restarted the nation's economy during rampant unemployment and national crisis. Kroessler discusses public works programs in Queens during the Depression

May 12, 2009, 6 pm
American Studies educator and New Deal Network founder Thomas Thurston - “Painting a National Portrait: Imagining America during the Great Depression” - the role of art in unifying and defining national identity and purpose during periods of dramatic change and crisis

FILM SERIES: Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief
405 Klapper Hall

March 4, 2009, 12:15 pm
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Director John Ford’s adaptation of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning 1939 novel, with Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, and others. A moving story about rural America in the 1930s filmed with astute realism and honesty to recreate the socio-economic impact of the Great Depression and a mid-30s drought upon one American family. Considered the most popular left-leaning, socialist-themed film of pre-World War II Hollywood.

April 1, 2009, 12:15 pm
My Man Godfrey (1936) with William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, and others. A socialite hires a derelict to be her family's butler, only to fall in love with him, much to his dismay. Ranked #44 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 funniest comedies of all times.

April 22, 2009, 12:15 pm
The City (1939). This documentary combines powerful visual imagery with revolutionary and poetic, social content showing the experiences shared by all Americans in a New England town, an unplanned industrial community, a congested metropolis, and the “new city.”

EVENTS:

April 26, 2009, 2pm
PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP
Printmaking workshop presented in collaboration with Kidsfest
Sponsored by: The Student Life Office, Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Child Care Center at QC and Metropolitan Food Service

In the Godwin-Ternbach Museum - Printmaking workshop for children and families led by Nancy Miller

On the QUAD - Music featuring Bari Koral Family Rock Band, face painting and food

Saturday, May 2, 2009
MURAL TOUR
“New Deal Murals in Queens with Michele Cohen” – A guided lecture tour of WPA murals in Queens’ schools, hospitals, and airports illustrates these artworks for our audiences. Noteworthy murals in public schools and public buildings include James Brooks’ Flight, LaGuardia Airport; Philip Evergood’s Story of Richmond Hill, Queensboro Public Library; Ben Shahn’s Four Freedoms, Woodhaven Post Office, Jamaica; and William Palmer’s Development of Medicine, Elmhurst Hospital. Call (718) 997-4724 for more reservations and more information on the mural tour.

Please note that the museum, located in Klapper Hall, Room 405, is not open on holidays and when the college is closed. Admission is free. For directions to Queens College, please visit: http://www.qc.cuny.edu/about/directions.php

Please call the museum for updated programs and schedules or re-visit this website www.qc.cuny.edu/godwin_ternbach for further information.

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