Lunchtime Lecture: The "Lost" Ethical Language of New Deal Public Works — And Art

12–1 PM
Free with Museum admission

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal is shorthand for not just an attack upon the Great Depression but a vision of government that sought to promote public health in the broadest possible meaning. It left behind an enormous legacy of essential but invisible public works including a continent-spanning art gallery. Believing that the arts were fundamental to any civilization worthy of the name, Roosevelt predicted that his administration would be remembered for its art patronage after all else was forgotten. Join Dr. Gray Brechin, project scholar in the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Geography and founder of The Living New Deal Project for this talk inspired by Crossroads: American Scene Prints from Thomas Hart Benton to Grant Wood.

Spring 2018 Lunchtime Lecture Season will return January 3, 2018.

Please note: this talk replaces the Lunchtime Lecture by Robert W. Cherny originally scheduled for this date.