Cross Road – Still Life

Paul Benjamin, Cross Road--Still Life, ca. 1933-1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.18
Copied Paul Benjamin, Cross Road--Still Life, ca. 1933-1934, oil on canvas, 28 1⁄4 x 26 1⁄4 in. (71.6 x 66.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.18

Artwork Details

Title
Cross Road – Still Life
Artist
Date
ca. 1933-1934
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
28 1⁄4 x 26 1⁄4 in. (71.6 x 66.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — road
  • Landscape — farm
  • Architecture — farm — barn
  • New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — New York City
Object Number
1965.18.18
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1965.18.18

Artwork Description

Rural Free Delivery service brought word of the outside world to this dairy farm via mail and newspaper boxes conveniently located on the farmer’s property. Artist Paul Benjamin, who lived in New York, was obviously charmed by this rustic assortment of wooden and metal boxes mounted on poles leaning at conflicting angles. He left the boxes and the road sign without lettering, allowing the setting of this rustic still life to read as a universal American farm rather than a particular family’s home and place of business.

Benjamin wrote to Juliana Force, chairman of the New York Region of the Public Works of Art Project, that he was painting "based upon sketches made in and around Arlington, in southern Vermont." For the urban artist, this small town and the surrounding farmland between the Taconic and the Green mountains must have seemed worlds away from the anxieties of Depression-era New York. In Vermont there were no crowds of artists keenly competing for limited opportunities. Yet Benjamin's unpretentious canvas did well in national competition; it was one of thirty-two PWAP works to win a coveted spot in the White House.

1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label

Related Books

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1934: A New Deal for Artists
During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.