Winter Scene

Martha Levy, Unidentified, Winter Scene, 1934, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.215
Copied Martha Levy, Unidentified, Winter Scene, 1934, oil on fiberboard, 21 1⁄2 x 27 3⁄8 in. (54.6 x 69.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.215

Artwork Details

Title
Winter Scene
Artists
Attributed to Martha Levy
Formerly attributed to Unidentified
Date
1934
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
21 1⁄2 x 27 3⁄8 in. (54.6 x 69.5 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure male
  • Recreation — sport and play — hunting
  • Landscape — season — winter
  • New Deal
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
Object Number
1964.1.215
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1964.1.215

Artwork Description

This simple, timeless winter scene of a man walking through a snowy wood is probably set near Woodstock, New York, the rural artists' colony where Martha Levy made paintings similar to this unsigned work. The simple house surrounded by snowdrifts, evergreens, and bare trees makes an idyllic picture that would be at home on a Christmas card. Yet the hunter with his rifle and red hat adds an uneasy note. Most hunters in the early 1930s were sportsmen as in previous years, but a hunting columnist noted in 1931, "The prevailing opinion in Michigan is that the deer will be hunted harder than ever this year, because with many of the hunters, it is a question of meat, rather than an emphasis upon the sport." Michigan was not the only state where unemployed men used their hunting rifles to feed their families. In Arkansas, hunters were seen on city streets selling game to supplement their incomes. Does this hunter, with no game in hand, have a family at home waiting anxiously for him to return with meat? Is he just out for a day’s sport? The artist leaves the questions unanswered.

1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label

Related Books

1934_500.jpg
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.