Mural for the Santa Monica Library: Prologue (mountain tops)

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Mural for the Santa Monica Library: Prologue (mountain tops), 1934-1935, oil on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the City of Santa Monica, California, 1966.103.4
Copied Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Mural for the Santa Monica Library: Prologue (mountain tops), 1934-1935, oil on wood, 28 1⁄2 x 60 in. (72.3 x 152.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the City of Santa Monica, California, 1966.103.4

Artwork Details

Title
Mural for the Santa Monica Library: Prologue (mountain tops)
Artist
Date
1934-1935
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
28 1⁄2 x 60 in. (72.3 x 152.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the City of Santa Monica, California
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — mountain
  • Landscape — weather — cloud
Object Number
1966.103.4
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1966.103.4

Artwork Description

The Santa Monica public library murals were executed with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a six-month pilot program begun in December 1933. The PWAP, which served as a precursor to both the Section of Painting and Sculpture and the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project, was established to determine the viability of federal arts programming within the larger New Deal agenda.

MacDonald-Wright created a series of thirty-eight panels depicting two streams of human development: one technical, the other imaginative. The prologue section shows the pursuits of primitive man; later panels present accomplishments in the arts and sciences and portray figures in the history of mathematics, astronomy, music, art, and literature. The series culminates in scenes of the region's motion picture industry, representing the fusion of technology and imagination in modern American life.

Special Delivery: Murals for the New Deal Era, 1988