regular people-doing whar rhey do every day, and, yes, maritime scenes! Fro m dockyards to seascapes, wo rking boats to sailing regattas, PWAP artists depicred the American scene as they understood ir, and maritime topics are most ass uredly American scenes. This year marks the 75 th anniversary of the PWAP in a year when the American eco nomy is once again in dire straits, eerily reminiscent of the struggles of the 1930s. In an effort to deal with its own 2009 budget crisis, the Smithsonian American Art Museum's administrators decided to create exhibitions from their own rich collections rather than pay for traveling exhibits, which are, at present, prohibitively expensive. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise, for a new generation will be introduced to works that haven'r received close attention since the last century in 1934: A New Deal for Artists, featuring fifty-five original works selected by Deputy C hief Curator George G urney and researched by Curatorial Associate Dr. Ann Prentice Wagner. This window into American scenes from 1934 is one to celebrate and reflect o n, and we can look forward to enjoying rhcse works in our nation's capital, online, and later when they tour across the country (check online for a sched ul e of when the exhibition will be in your region as it travels on a national tour). In the pages that fo llow, enjoy a selectio n of maritime-them ed art fro m the 1934 PWAP collection at the Smithsonian American Art M useum. 1934: A New D eal for Artists will be on display in Washington, DC, until 3 January 2010. It will then begin a rhree-year narional tour, opening in Pimburgh on 30 January 2010 and ending rhree years larer in Portland, Maine, on 20 Jan uary 201 3. Smithsonian offers a mulritude of companion presentarions online: slide shows; images on Flickr.com, where yo u can add yo ur own images from 1934; biogs; an illustrated video tour of the museum exhibition, narrated by Dr. Wagner; and listings of museums and dates that will host the exhibition when it goes on tour next year. (Smithsonian American Arr Museum, 75 0 9 rh Srreet, NW, Suire 3 100, Was hington, DC 2000 1; Ph. 202 633-7970; e-mail: Am ericanArtinfo@s i.edu; http: //am ericanart. si.edu/ exhibitions/ archive/2009I 19 34/)
Sketch of Old Baltimore Water&ont by Herman Maril, oil on fiberboard.
H erman Maril opened a window onto the history of his native city in this view of Baltimore's inner harbor. The domed Merchants and Exchange building, which stood at the corner of Gay and water Streets, is visible in the background. It was built in 1815 and razed in 1901. Thus, this painting is set before Maril's birth in 1908. By the time Maril was alive and old enough to walk along the waterfront, the inner harbor docks and much of the city had been destroyed in a disastrous fire in 1904. Baltimore's vanished past remained key to Maril's personal conception ofthe "American scene. " SEA HISTORY 128, AUTUMN 2009
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