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William T. Wiley, In the Name of (Not to Worry It’s Juxtaposition), 1982, a: acrylic, felt-tipped pen, ink and charcoal on canvas; b: paper umbrella, plywood, sticks, cardboard roller, rubber ball, sheet metal, wire, etc.; c: watercolor, pencil, felt-tipped pen, and ink on paper, a: 102 inches. x 127"; b: 52 x 45 x 19-1/8"; c: sheet = 25 x 38", © William T. Wiley, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Photograph by Gene Young.

William T. Wiley, Inside and Outside, 2000, watercolor and ink on paper, 22 x 30", © William T. Wiley, Collection of Wanda Hansen and Matthew D. Ashe, Photograph
by LA Louvre Gallery, Venice, CA.

William T. Wiley, Meridian Moons Overwhatarewe, 2006, mixed media on canvas, 60-1/4 x 85-1/2", © William T. Wiley, Anonymous San Francisco Collectors, Photography courtesy of John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California, Photograph by John Wilson White.

William T. Wiley, Punball: Only One Earth, 2007-2008, pinball machine, 56" (length) x 26" (width) x 70" (height of back) and 38.5" (height of front), © William T. Wiley, Collection of Laura and Joe Sweeney, Photograph by Electric Works, San Francisco, CA.

William T. Wiley, Dwelling in the Pure + Infinite, 1970, watercolor and ink on paper, 30 x 22", © William T. Wiley, Collection of Betty and Jack Schafer, Photograph by Donald Felton, Almac Camera, San Francisco 9. Studio Space, 1975, acrylic and charcoal on canvas,

William T. Wiley, Mona Lisa Wipe Out or “Three Wishes”, 1967, paper, wire, canvas, and tape, 24 x 17-1/8", © William T. Wiley, Yale University Art Gallery, The Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund, Photograph by schopplein.com.

Smithsonian
American Art Museum and
the National Portrait Gallery
8th and F Streets, NW
202-633-1000
Washington, D.C.
What’s It All Mean:
William T. Wiley in Retrospect
October 2, 2009-January 24, 2010

William T. Wiley (b. 1937) has created a distinctive body of work during a 50-year career that addresses critical issues of our time. The exhibition What’s It All Mean: William T. Wiley in Retrospect features 88 works from the 1960s to the present and is the first full-scale look at Wiley’s long career exploring important themes and ideas expressed in his work. Many artworks in the exhibition are on public display for the first time, and the installation includes several of Wiley’s avant-garde films of the 1970s, which are rarely screened.

Art, politics, war, global warming, foolishness, ambition, hypocrisy and irony are summoned by Wiley’s fertile imagination and recorded in the personal vocabulary of symbols, puns and images that crowd his objects. His wit and sense of the absurd make his art accessible to all with multiple layers of meaning revealed through careful examination. Joann Moser, senior curator at the museum, organized the exhibition.

“In a world where Twitter allows us only 140 characters, William Wiley’s art demands close attention and patient looking to decipher each coded reference, pun and scenario of his imagery,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director at the museum. “In this exhibition, Wiley emerges anew as a universal commentator with more relevance than ever. We are proud to present this great American artist.”

“Wiley’s influence and importance in California are well established,” said Moser. “This exhibition and accompanying publication affirm his significance as an artist of national and international stature whose accomplishment has meaning for us all.”

Wiley’s extensive body of work challenges the principles of mainstream art. His work ranges from traditional drawing, watercolor, acrylic painting, sculpture and printmaking to performances, constructions of assorted materials and, more recently, printed pins, tapestries and a pinball machine. He has developed a distinctive style and masterful drawing skills that are recognizable in all his work, yet allow for variety, invention and subtlety. Wiley has refined wordplay into a distinctive mode of expression and has established a vocabulary of forms and symbols, such as an anvil or the sign for infinity, which have accumulated meanings and nuance as he repeats and transforms them. Wiley’s imagery is personal and idiosyncratic. He is aware that some people do not take his work seriously because of the many puns, cartoons and double entendres, but whimsy and irreverence draw viewers to his work, and his use of language challenges viewers to consider multiple layers of meaning.

Wiley studied at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1956 to 1962, where he first encountered the broad array of art, music, film, books and Asian philosophies that inform his work. Wiley abandoned the formalism that dominated the art world at the time and introduced language, narrative and figurative imagery into his work. He was exposed to assemblage artists who blurred the boundaries between high art and popular culture.

Bruce Nauman, a student of Wiley’s at the University of California at Davis in the late 1960s, became a close friend and collaborator. Both admired Marcel Duchamp’s work and shared an interest in the process of making art and in incorporating words into their work. Around this time, Wiley began to introduce a regular cast of alter egos into his performance pieces and paintings, including Mr. Unatural who was a response to cartoonist R. Crumb’s Mr. Natural. Wiley uses Mr. Unatural, a tall, lanky figure who wears a long fake nose and a dunce cap, to both express and disguise his own awkwardness.

From the 1990s to the present, Wiley has found inspiration in medieval art, such as alchemical texts with woodblock images, and 16th-century painters Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The centrality of symbols and narratives in their work attracts Wiley, as well as their engagement with the contemporary events of their own time. Wiley in turn addresses topical issues, including the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Abu Ghraib scandal.

“Wiley’s art has been described as eccentric, hermetic, idiosyncratic, irreverent, enigmatic, paradoxical, wacky, whimsical, childlike, cryptic, burlesque, ironic, folksy, bewildering — and all these terms fit,” said Moser. “But he is not purposefully obscure. Wiley seeks to engage us in exploring pressing concerns, leaving us to make our own connections and draw our own conclusions.”

The museum has published annotated films by the artist on its Web site as well as on ArtBabble and selected music, written and performed by Wiley, on iTunes. A slideshow of selected works included in the exhibition is available on the museum’s Web site. An interview with the artist will be available online later this fall.

The accompanying book, co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and
University of California Press, includes essays by Moser; John Hanhardt, consulting senior curator for film and media arts; and John Yau, poet and critic. The book gives an overview of the artist’s 50-year career, reflects on Wiley’s films of the 1970s and assesses his distinctive use of language. It is available in the museum’s store and online for $65 (hardcover) or $39.95 (paperback).

William T. Wiley, Sweet Lil’ Pristine, 1985, mixed media, 38 x 11-1/2 x
4-1/2", © William T. Wiley, Collection of Roselyne Chroman Swig, Photograph by schopplein.com.

William T. Wiley, X Stream Art, 1970, watercolor and ink on paper, 22 x 30", © William T. Wiley, The John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation, Photograph by The John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation.

Stuart Davis, Impression of the New York, World's Fair (mural study, Communications Building, World's Fair, Flushing, New York), 1938, gouache on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the United States Information Agency through the General Services Administration.

Paul Manship, Sketch of Egyptian Jackals, 1924, watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Paul Manship.

John Ferren, Blue in Space, about 1937, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Daisy Shapiro.

Andrew Wyeth, November First, 1950, watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Winifred M. Jacobson.

Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1950, enamel on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Vincent Melzac Collection through the Smithsonian Institution, Collections Acquisition Program.

David Smith, Untitled, about 1951, ink and tempera on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.

Dorothy Dehner, The People in the Story; Bolton Landing, 1949, pen and ink and watercolor wash on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.

William H. Johnson, Going Out, about 1939-1942, gouache, pen and ink and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation.

Smithsonian
American Art Museum and
the National Portrait Gallery
8th and F Streets, NW
202-633-1000
Washington, D.C.
Graphic Arts galleries,
second floor
Graphic Masters II:
Highlights from
the Smithsonian
American Art Museum
June 19-
January 10, 2010

Graphic Masters II celebrates the extraordinary variety and accomplishment of American artists’ works on paper drawn exclusively from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Exceptional watercolors, pastels, and drawings reveal the importance of works on paper — both as studies for creations in other media and as finished works of art. These exceptional watercolors, pastels, and drawings from the 1920s to the 1960s reveal the central importance of works on paper for American artists, both as studies for creations in other media and as finished works of art. Rarely seen works from the museum's permanent collection. Watercolors capture the light and color of nature, while pastels allow artists to draw directly in color, blurring traditional distinctions between drawing and painting. Bold drawings include designs for stage sets, book illustrations, and studies for paintings.

Drawings often reveal greater immediacy and experimentation than paintings and sculpture. Preparatory sketches can be spontaneous creations that reveal the artist’s thought processes and working methods. Even when works on paper are larger and more finished, competing in scale with easel paintings, they retain a sense of the artist’s hand. This installation includes works from early to mid-20th century by artists such as Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, William H. Johnson, John Steuart Curry, Jacob Lawrence, and Sam Francis.

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is the second in a series of special installations that celebrate the extraordinary variety and accomplishment of American artists’ works on paper. These 39 exceptional watercolors, pastels and drawings from the 1920s to the 1960s reveal the central importance of works on paper for American artists, both as studies for creations in other media and as finished works of art. Traditionally a more intimate form of expression than painting or sculpture, drawings often reveal greater spontaneity and experimentation. Even as works on paper become larger and more finished, competing in scale with easel paintings, they retain a sense of the artist’s hand, the immediacy of a thought made visible.

Rarely seen works from the museum’s permanent collection by artists such as Isabel Bishop, John Steuart Curry, Stuart Davis, Dorothy Dehner, Sam Francis, Edward Hopper, William H. Johnson, Willem de Kooning, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella, Grant Wood and Andrew Wyeth are featured in the exhibition. Joann Moser, senior curator for graphic arts, selected the artworks in the exhibition.

A souvenir book, titled Graphic Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and published by the museum in 2003, includes several works in the installation with entries by Moser. It is available for $19.95 in the museum’s store and online.

Sam Francis, Untitled, 1960, gouache on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin.

Jacob Lawrence, Captain Skinner, 1944, gouache on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Carlton Skinner.

Louis Lozowick, Stage Setting for Gas, 1926, pen and ink, brush and ink, tempera and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.

Isabel Bishop, Card Player, 1937, pen and ink, ink wash, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Frank McClure.

Joseph Stella, Portrait of Clara Fasano, 1943, pastel on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Edward Hopper, White River at Sharon, 1937, watercolor and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation.

Smithsonian
American Art Museum
and the National
Portrait Gallery
8th and F Streets, NW
202-633-1000
Washington, D.C.
1934:
A New Deal for Artists
Feb. 27-Jan. 3, 2010

In 1934, Americans grappled with an economic situation that feels all too familiar today. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the U.S. government created the Public Works of Art Program — the first federal government program to support the arts nationally. A selection of paintings made with support from this program will be on view Feb. 27 through Jan. 3, 2010, in the exhibition 1934: A New Deal for Artists at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It will begin a three-year tour of the United States in 2010.

“As the Smithsonian American Art Museum prepares to open 1934: A New Deal for Artists, the nation is engaged in a great discussion about how to restore confidence during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “One contentious issue is whether and how cultural initiatives should play a role in government recovery efforts. This exhibition, which focuses on the first U.S. government program ever to provide direct support for artists, is relevant to that discussion. The legacy of New Deal cultural programs seems indisputable today as we cherish and mine the resources these ‘workers’ left us.”

•1934: A New Deal for Artists• celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Program by drawing on the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s unparalleled collection of vibrant paintings created for the program. The 56 paintings in the exhibition are a lasting visual record of America at a specific moment in time. George Gurney, deputy chief curator, organized the exhibition with Ann Prentice Wagner, curatorial associate.

Federal officials in the 1930s understood how essential art was to sustaining America’s spirit. During the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration created the Public Works of Art Program, which lasted only six months from mid-December 1933 to June 1934. The purpose of the program was to alleviate the distress of professional, unemployed American artists by paying them to produce artwork that could be used to embellish public buildings. The program was administered under the Treasury Department by art professionals in 16 different regions of the country.

Artists from across the United States who participated in the program were encouraged to depict “the American Scene,” but they were allowed to interpret this idea freely. They painted regional, recognizable subjects — ranging from portraits to cityscapes and images of city life to landscapes and depictions of rural life — that reminded the public of quintessential American values such as hard work, community and optimism. These artworks, which were displayed in schools, libraries, post offices, museums and government buildings, vividly capture the realities and ideals of Depression-era America.

“Artists were honored to be paid by the Public Works of Art Program for paintings that would be publicly displayed,” said Gurney. “The program also provided them with a sense of pride in serving their country.”

The exhibition is arranged into eight sections: American People, City Life, Labor, Industry, Leisure, The City, The Country, and Nature. Works from 13 of the 16 regions established by the Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts are represented in the exhibition.

The Public Works of Art Project employed artists from across the country including Ilya Bolotowsky, Lily Furedi and Max Arthur Cohn in New York City; Harry Gottlieb and Douglass Crockwell in upstate New York; Herman Maril in Maryland; Gale Stockwell in Missouri; E. Dewey Albinson in Minnesota; E. Martin Hennings in New Mexico; and Millard Sheets in California.

Ross Dickinson paints the confrontation between man and nature in his painting of southern California, Valley Farms (1934). He contrasts the verdant green, irrigated valley with the dry, reddish-brown hills, recalling the appeal of fertile California for many Midwestern farmers escaping the hopelessness of the Dust Bowl.

Several artists chose to depict American ingenuity. Stadium lighting was still rare when Morris Kantor painted Baseball at Night (1934), which depicts a game at the Clarkstown Country Club’s Sports Centre in West Nyack, N.Y. Ray Strong’s panoramic Golden Gate Bridge (1934) pays homage to the engineering feats required to build the iconic San Francisco structure. Old Pennsylvania Farm in Winter (1934) by Arthur E. Cederquist features a prominent row of poles providing telephone service and possibly electricity, a rare modern amenity in rural America.

The program was open to artists who were denied other opportunities, such as African Americans and Asian Americans. African American artists like Earle Richardson, who painted Employment of Negroes in Agriculture (1934), were welcomed, but only about 10 such artists were employed by the project. Richardson, who was a native New Yorker, chose to set his painting of quietly dignified workers in the South to make a broad statement about race. In the Seattle area, where Kenjiro Nomura lived, many Japanese Americans made a living as farmers, but they were subject to laws that prevented foreigners from owning land and other prejudices. Nomura’s painting The Farm (1934) depicts a darker view of rural life with threatening clouds on the horizon.

The United States was in crisis as 1934 approached. The national economy had fallen into an extended depression after the stock market crash of October 1929. Thousands of banks failed, wiping out the life savings of millions of families. Farmers battled drought, erosion and declining food prices. Businesses struggled or collapsed. A quarter of the work force was unemployed, while an equal number worked reduced hours. More and more people were homeless and hungry. Nearly 10,000 unemployed artists faced destitution.

The nation looked expectantly to President Roosevelt, who was inaugurated in March 1933. The new administration swiftly initiated a wide-ranging series of economic recovery programs called the New Deal. The President realized that Americans needed not only employment but also the inspiration art could provide. The Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts organized the Public Works of Art Project Dec. 8, 1933. Within days, 16 regional committees were recruiting artists who eagerly set to work in all parts of the country. During the project’s brief existence, from December 1933 to June 1934, the Public Works of Art Project hired 3,749 artists who created 15,663 paintings, murals, sculptures, prints, drawings and craft objects at a cost of $1,312,000.

In April 1934, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., exhibited more than 500 works created as part of the Public Works of Art Project. Selected paintings from the Corcoran exhibition later traveled to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and other cities across the country. President Roosevelt, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and government officials who attended the exhibition in Washington acclaimed the art enthusiastically. The Roosevelts selected 32 paintings for display at the White House, including Sheets’Tenement Flats (1933-34) and Strong’s Golden Gate Bridge (1934). The success of the Public Works of Art Project paved the way for later New Deal art programs, including the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project.

Nearly 150 paintings from the Public Works of Art Program were transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum during the 1960s, along with a large number of artworks from subsequent programs that extended into the 1940s, especially the well-known Works Progress Administration program. The museum has one of the largest collections of New Deal art in the world, numbering nearly 3,000 objects.

A catalog, fully illustrated in color and co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and D Giles Ltd. in London, is forthcoming in July 2009. It will feature an essay by Roger Kennedy, historian and director emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History; individual entries for each artwork by Wagner; and an introduction by the museum’s director Broun. The book will be available online and in the museum store for $49.95 (softcover $35).

Ray Strong, Golden Gate Bridge, 1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

Ross Dickinson, Valley Farms, 1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Robert Brackman, Somewhere in America, 1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Beulah R. Bettersworth, Christopher Street, Greenwich Village, 1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

Douglass Crockwell, Paper Workers, 1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Paul Kelpe, Machinery (Abstract #2), 1933-1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Earle Richardson, Employment of Negroes in Agriculture, 1934, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.