WPA Art Inventory Project

All that is known about this artist is that he painted two easels, one entitled Rhodendrons and the other Harbor Scene, both of which were allocated in 1936 to the Undercliff Sanatorium.

Source: WPA Artist’s Work Card

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Paul Galvin:

Robert Galvin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 5, 1909. He attended Berea College in Kentucky, where he worked at the college print shop. In 1929 he moved to New Haven, Connecticut to attend the Yale School of Fine Arts. After three and a half years he left the Art School to pursue his interest in graphic design. Under the Treasury Relief Art Program, Galvin worked on the mural at the Coast Guard Academy from November 1935 until May 1937. He then transferred to the WPA Federal Arts Project and rendered five color plates for the Index of American Design and two easel works. His easel works were allocated to Undercliff Sanatorium. After marrying Hester Havens in 1938, Galvin decided to leave the Federal Arts Project to go into freelance practice. His date of death is unknown.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card: WPA Biography; “Art in May [1938],” WPA Federal Arts Project Newsletter.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Robert Galvin:

All that is known about Marion Gaylord is that she painted detail of a Bed Valance owned by the New Milford Historical Society for The Index of American Design.

Source: Erwin O. Christensen, The Index of American Design, (Smithsonian Institution, 1950), p. 203.

Aaron Gelman was born in Hartford, Connecticut on November 24, 1899. He left Hartford Public High School to go to sea, and he traveled in the Mediterranean and European countries earning “his seaman’s papers.” After returning to Hartford he finished high school and studied at the Hartford Academy of Art. Graduating from Hartford Public High School, Gelman went to New York City to study at the Art Students’ League and the National Academy of Design. He left the City for a tour as a seaman of the Carribean and Latin American seaports. Returning to New York, he took up residence in New York City and studied under George Luks, one of the founders of the Ashcan School of Art. In 1928 he accompanied his parents to Palestine and helped them resettle there. He remained there for a year painting people who lived there. This collection traveled worldwide making him famous. Gelman died in Israel May 1970. In Hartford, he had been famous for his portraits. He painted murals for the Connecticut Federal Arts Project.

 Sources: AskART; Who Was Who In American Art (1985); Hartford Courant: “Good Will Club Closes for Spring,” May 24, 1924; Photo Standalone 17, April 20, 1930; Photo Standalone 18, March 15, 1931; “Mrs. Gelman Returns to Palestine Saturday, June 29, 1934; “Paintings Shown in New York by Ex-Local Artist,” March 4, 1937; “City Streets Are Painted by Gelman,” March 3, 1942; Aaron Gelman, City Native, Dies; Noted Painter; New York Times: “Art Notes,” June 8, 1930; “Other Shows,” May 12, 1935; Edward Alden Jewell, “Taking Stock of Local prospects,” June 2, 1935; “Among Other Offerings,” May 24, 1936; Edward Alden Jewell, “Six Centuries of Sports,” March 7, 1937; “As Napoleon Threatened,” January 4, 1932; Photo Standalone 20, January 4, 1942; “Czechoslovak Art at Public Library,” April 5, 1944; “Aaron Gelman,” Wikipedia.

All that is known about Enrico Gerbi is a time card dated January 4, 1936. He finished a large drawing which may have been a tracing for a mural and a “portrayal” of the sculpture Dignity.

Frank Gesner was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1877, but he spent most of his life in Wethersfield. He worked at the Maxim Silencer Co., retiring in 1945. He was also employed by the Hartford Courant in the rotogravure section, and he contributed poetry. According to Gesner’s obituary, he “had painted the murals in the central hall of the [Hartford] Municipal Building and had done map work for the WPA.” His work card shows that he completed a twenty two square foot mural at Wethersfield High School entitled Historical Map of Wethersfield. Gesner died in 1955.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; Hartford Courant: “Artists Are Assigned for WPA Projects,” December 14, 1935; “Frank Gesner Dies; Well-Known Artist,” February 18, 1955.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Frank Gesner:

James L. Goldie was born in Dorchcester, Massachusetts in 1892. Little is known about his family or education. He became a painter, and one of his works was exhibited at the Philadelphia Academy. He went to the Tiffany Foundation in Cold Springs Harbor, Long Island to paint and became interested in frame making and gilding. Goldie worked for the Connecticut WPA Federal Arts Project from 1936-37 producing some oil paintings and frames, sometimes burnished with silver or gold. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts. Goldie’s date of death is unknown.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; Who Was Who in American Art(1985), p. 236; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1986), p. 333; Hartford Courant: “Craft Practiced Now as in the Days of King Tut,” August 5, 1928; “Artists Are Assigned for WPA Projects, December 24, 1935; “Many Local Dealers at Exhibition,” April 19, 1936; “Plan Vesper Service for Area Youth,” November 15, 1942.

Images available in Flickr

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

For most of her life, this artist was Laicita Warburton Worden. After her marriage to Kenneth Gregg in 1919, she became Laicita Worden Gregg. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1892 and attended the city’s public schools. She graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later was elected to a Fellowship. During her life she lived in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Greenwich and Wilton, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; and Rutland, Vermont. Worden Gregg was a painter, sculptor, muralist, and illustrator during her career. She worked for the WPA Federal Arts Project from 1936-1939, when her family lived in Wilton. She completed nine easel paintings and five murals. The latter were at the Stamford Court House, the New Canaan Library, New Canaan High School, and Weston and Wilton schools. Worden Gregg was active in the Group of Wilton Artists. The New Haven Museum and Historical Society salvaged and restored one mural, a three panel representation of The Regicides, which had once been in Woolsey School in New Haven. The Society also has water color and pencil mural sketches. Worden Gregg died in Rutland, Vermont in 1975.

 Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; AskART; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1986), p. 1058; Who Was Who In American Art (1985), p. 695; Social Security Death Index; Amy Trout, “The Federal Arts Project in New Haven:  The Era, Art, & Legacy,” Hog River Journal, Volume 6, No. 1 (Winter 2006/2007), pp. 26-31 and only text; Amy Trout also curated an exhibit at the New Haven Museum and Historical Society by the same title that was installed in 2006 and taken down in 2008. See Rebecca Arzoian, “New Deal Brought New Art to City,” Yale Daily News, December 4, 2006.

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Laicita Gregg:

Thayer Grimes worked for the Public Works of Art Project and then completed one known easel work for the WPA Federal Arts Project entitledMoses and the Ten Commandments. It was allocated to the Westport School System. Born in Nebraska on September 27, 1886, both Thayer and his wife Jessie H. are listed in 1939 as members of the Silvermine Guild of Artists, and both are listed in the Weston directory for that year as artists living on Lyons Plains Rd. They later moved to Los Angeles where Grimes died on February 4, 1949.

Source: WPA Photograph.

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Thayer Grimes:

Justin Gruelle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1889. His father was the noted landscape painter Richard B. Gruelle, and his brother, Johnny Gruelle, was a popular illustrator and creator of the Raggedy Ann books. Justin studied art with his father from an early age, and moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League. After a year he returned to the Midwest and worked for various newspapers. In 1910 Gruelle moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. He became a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and kept a studio in the Bishop Building in Norwalk. He wrote and illustrated several children’s books, most notably A Mother Goose Parade. He had two children, a boy and a girl, with his wife Mabel Brown. He worked for the Public Works of Art Project and later, the WPA Federal Arts Project. Under the WPA, he completed one easel work and seven mural panels. His work was allocated to Fairfield State Hospital, Central Jr. High School in Norwalk, and the Little Red Schoolhouse in New Canaan. Later in his life Gruelle moved to California where he died in 1978. 

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; AskART; Who Was Who in American Art (1985), p. 250; “Justin C. Gruelle, Artist/Illustrator, July 1, 1889-April 20, 1978; Bruce L. Johnson, “Justin Gruelle and the Early Birds Mural,” [No Author], “‘Aesop’s Fable’ at the Little Red Schoolhouse by Justin C. Gruelle Funded by the Works Progress Administration in 1939,” typescript; Louise E. Moreh[ouse ?], “Justin C. Gruelle Receives Praise for Mural and Scene,” Indianapolis Star, August 12, 1934; E. Humphrey Doulens, “Justin Gruelle, South Norwalk Sentinel, May 13, 1932. Special thanks to Elizabeth Branch of the New Canaan Historical Society for providing the last three items.

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Justin Gruelle:

Thomas Guidone was born in Sorento, a Province of Naples, Italy on April 4, 1898. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut when he was three years old and was educated in the public schools. According to his daughter, Reverend Vera Niestemski, Guidone was fourteen not three years old when he came to America and was not educated in the public schools. In 1927 he secretly married Gertrude Dwyer while attending Yale University. He graduated from the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1928. His thesis was on the ancient art of egg tempera formulations that artists had handed down orally. Upon graduation Guidone worked with Paul Saling decorating public buildings in Hartford. He then freelanced for three years and went on to work for Bancel LaFarge for four years, completing murals throughout the country. He attained a reputation as a religious muralist. He worked for the Public Works of Art Project and then completed 52 easel works for the WPA Federal Arts Project. His work was allocated to Troup Junior High School in New Haven, Hamden High School, Connecticut School for Boys, New Haven Public Library, the Community Chest of New Haven, Long Lane Farm, Rocky Hill Soldiers’ Home, and the Undercliff Sanatorium. Later in life he became a Professor Emeritus at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Guidone was married twice. After his first wife died in 1935, he married Winifred Lillian Herrmann who was a college educated concert musician and had her own radio show named the Winifred Lillian Herrmann Music Hour in New Haven. He lived in East Haven at the time of his death on August 7, 1990. He was 92.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; Obituary, New Haven Register, August 8^th, 1990; “Wed While at Yale,” New York Times, June 27, 1927; WPA Federal Arts Project Newsletter, August 1938; AskART; Social Security Death Index; Reverend Vera Niestemski.

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Thomas Guidone:

Alvin Gully was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 29, 1902. He attended public school in Brooklyn until his parents moved to Westbrook, Connecticut in 1911. Before working for the WPA Federal Arts Project, he worked as a factory hand, mechanical draftsman, machine designer, model builder, pianist at a silent movie theater, musician in a dance orchestra, sign painter, author of technical articles, and illustrator for magazines. Gully was a self-taught artist, although he took a correspondence course in commercial illustrating through the Federal Schools of Minneapolis. He completed 35 projects for the WPA. Seventeen of his works were for the Index of American design, and he worked various “odd jobs” around the WPA offices including taking photographs, mounting works, and preparing exhibitions. Gully died on June 1, 1985, in Westbrook. He was 83. Of special note is that he ran for Governor on the Socialist Labor Party ticket in 1934.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; WPA Federal Arts Project Newsletter, September 1938; “Socialism Considered,” Hartford Courant, May 7, 1934; “Events Scheduled Today,” New York Times, March 7, 1937; Social Security Death Index.

Images available in Flickr

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Alvin Gully: