WPA Art Inventory Project

Warren Dahler was born on October 12, 1887, in New York City. He studied at the National Academy of Design and the University of Chicago. He was a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists in New Canaan and the National Society of Mural Painters. Dahler worked on the predecessor to the WPA Federal Arts Project, the Public Works of Art Project. He completed 12 easel works and two murals for the WPA. His work was allocated to Old Norwalk High School, New Norwalk High School, and Mansfield Training School. He specialized in delicate floral studies. Dahler died in a fire at his home in Norwalk, where he lived alone, on February 2, 1961.

 Source: Who Was Who in American Art (1985).

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Warren Dahler:

James Henry Daugherty and John Steuart Curry were two popular artists when they worked for the Connecticut WPA Federal Arts Project. Daugherty is considered more of a Connecticut “son” because he spent so much of his life in Westport and Weston. Much has been written about Daugherty’s career which included many styles: abstraction, early modernism, fauvism, futurism, realism, and synchromism.

Daugherty was born in Ashfield, North Carolina in 1887. During his first years the family lived in Ohio and Indiana near Lafayette, Indiana. He grew up in a family that stressed culture. In the late 1890’s the family moved to Washington, D.C., and Daugherty attended the Corcoran Gallery’s Free School. He also attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia as a student of William Merritt Chase. In 1905 the Department of Agriculture transferred his family to Europe. Daugherty traveled in Europe and studied the art of the mural with Frank Brangwyn at the London School of Art. After returning to the United States in 1907, Daugherty moved to New York City and worked as an illustrator.

He went to the City’s famous Armory Show in 1913 and was inspired by modernist ideas. In 1915 he set up a studio next to Arthur B. Frost, Jr., who taught him “abstract techniques,” especially synchromism which focused on colors and their harmony. During World War I he worked in a camouflage unit and experimented with colors. By the early 1920’s Daugherty was known for his modernist art and use of color.

After 1922 he began painting in the realist/representational style and concentrated on murals. He knew Thomas Hart Benton, the great regionalist, and integrated the heroic style with bright colors. In creating figures in his murals, Daugherty remembered the paintings of Rubens, El Greco, and Titian. During the 1930’s he worked for a variety of Federal programs funding the arts including the Public Works of Art Project, the WPA Federal Arts Project, and the Treasury Relief Art Project. His murals are among the most popular art works produced during the Depression. Under the WPA, he completed murals in the Stamford High School begun under its predecessor, the Public Works of Art Project.

In addition to painting murals, Daugherty illustrated over fifty children’s books. In 1939 his book, Daniel Boone, won the John Newbery Award from the American Library Association. He and his wife Sonia, a writer, collaborated on several books. Daugherty was admired in Weston and the region. He was a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists in New Canaan and the Darien Guild of the Seven Arts and exhibited his work at both venues. He also helped to found the Weston Arts Council. His works are part of collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Daugherty died in Weston in 1974.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; AskART; Dorothy and John Tarrant, A Community of Artists; Westport-Weston 1900-1985(1985), pp. 64-68; “James Daugherty, Artist, Dead; Children’s Book Author Was 84,” New York Times, February 22, 1974; “J.H. Daugherty, Writer, Painter, Succumbs at 84,” Hartford Courant, February 23, 1974; “Two Prominent Westonites Die,” Weston Forum, February 27, 1974; “Daugherty, James Henry,” Lee Kingman, Joanna Foster, and Ruth Giles Lontoft, Illustrators of Children’s Books, 1957-1966 (Boston, 1968), pp. 97-98; Who Was Who In American Art (1985), pp. 149; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1986) p. 203.  The best single source biography of James H. Daugherty is Rebecca E. Lawton’s text in Heroic America: James Daugherty’s Mural Drawings from the 1930’s (Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 1978).  This was part of a catalogue published by the Center for an exhibit of the same name that ran form April 3-June 7, 1978.  There are innumerable articles about Daugherty or that mention him in the New York Times.  The following cite useful summaries and assessments of his work: “James Daugherty Named Newbery Prize Winner,” May 29, 1940; “The Story of Honest Abe,” December 18, 1943; Hilton Kramer, “Paintings by Daugherty Recall an era,” December 25, 1971; Piri Halasz, “Art: Daugherty’s Progress,” February 18, 1973; William Zimmer, “Three Members of a Connecticut Family Share ‘A Color Heritage,’” March 10, 1991; William Zimmer, W.P.A. Murals, Aging with Grace and Growing in Value, ”September 27, 1998; Valerie Cruice, “ART; Mural From The 30’s Is Given Rebirth,” October 8, 2000.  There are manuscript collections of Daugherty’s papers at the University of Oregon, the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, and The Children’s Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota. 

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from James Daugherty:

Little is known about Victor DeCarlo. He was a National Youth Administration Student who came to work for the WPA in 1938-1940. He was a painter and a member of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club. DeCarlo painted four easel works for the WPA.

 Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; AskART; WPA Federal Arts Project Newsletter (ND).

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Victor DeCarlo:

Salvatore DeMaio was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1908. He attended the city’s public schools. He entered the Yale School of Fine Arts, and in 1930, his senior year, won the Prix de Rome which granted him a free residence in Rome and an $8,000 scholarship for three years to study there and in other European cities. When DeMaio returned to the United States, he played the trumpet in Rudy Vallee’s and Artie Shaw’s bands in order to make ends meet. He worked for the WPA Federal Arts Project from 1935-1939, painting 21 easel paintings and five murals. Four of the murals were at the Teachers College in New Haven, the 2^nd Regiment Armory in New Haven, Hamden High School, the Governor’s Foot Guard Hall in New Haven. The fifth was of the Battle of Santiago and was brought aboard the U.S.S. Phelps. DeMaio owned and operated the Weathervane Restaurant in Hamden and stored many of his paintings there. Unfortunately they were destroyed in a fire. He died in 1960.

 Sources:  WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPS Biography; ”New Haven Youth Wins Art Award For Study in Rome,” Hartford Courant, May 6, 1930; Photo Stand-alone 11, Hartford Courant, June 1, 1930; “To Rome,” Time, May 19, 1930.  The following are from the New York Times:  “Religious Works Win Prix De Rome,” May 6, 1930; “King Sees American Art,” May 28, 1932; “ART; Fifth Avenue Branch Opened,” November 21, 1933; “Italian Study Centre Established at Yale,” February 27, 1934; “Salvatore De Maio, Artist and Musician,” February 11, 1960.

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Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Salvatore DeMaio:

The only evidence that this artist worked on the FAP comes from The Index of American Design by Erwin O. Christensen. On page 201, Edward DiGennero is listed as working on the “Connecticut Project.” Nothing else is known about this artist.

Source: Erwin O. Christensen, The Index of American Design (National Gallery of Art, 1950)

Isabella Ruth Doerfler was born 1883 in Meriden, Connecticut. She began painting at the age of ten while attending Meriden public schools. She graduated from the Yale School of Art. She was a teacher, children’s book illustrator, designer for publishing houses, and decorator of antiques. Doerfler was a member of the Arts and Crafts Association of Meriden and the Association of Connecticut Artists. In 1936, under the WPA Federal Arts Project, she worked on the Index of American Design. She was considered to be  “one of the best renderers of textiles in New England.” She completed 62 works for the WPA. Her works were allocated to Undercliff Sanatorium, the Soldiers’ Home in Rocky Hill, Connecticut Farm for Women, Norwich State Hospital, Connecticut State College, and the West Hartford School System. During WORLD WAR 1I, she worked in the mechanical drawing department of a defense plant. Doerfler died on November 15, 1954, at the age of 71.

 Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; “Antique Decorating Is Being Revived In Area by Yale Art School Graduate,” New Haven Register,February 26, 1950; Jane Bouley to Mark Jones, July 4, 2008, e-mail with attachments.

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Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Isabella Doerfler:

Rex Dolmith was born January 1, 1896, in East Canton, Ohio. He studied at the Art School of Chicago. He specialized in portraits, architectural drawings, and industrial design. Under the WPA Federal Arts Project, he created nine watercolors for the Index of American Design and one oil still life that was allocated to the Undercliff Sanatorium. Dolmith’s date of death is unknown. 

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Rex Dolmith:

Little is known about this artist except that she worked for the WPA in 1940-1941and lived in Lime Rock, Connecticut. Dunkle worked on a medium called “transurface” and completed seventeen works in it.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; Social Security Death Index

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Murna Dunkle: