WPA Art Inventory Project

Louis LaBrecque began his work for the WPA Federal Arts Project in 1935. In total, he painted eleven murals under the Project. He worked on the Bushnell Park Nativity Scene, painting the statues in life-like colors. His work was allocated to the Hartford Municipal Hospital and the North West School. LaBrecque was married to Winifred Lynch. Tragically, his son, Louis LaBrecque Jr., committed suicide in 1951. The elder LaBrecque’s dates of birth and death are unknown.

Sources: Hartford Courant, December 11, 1951, December 15, 1938, December 12, 1954.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Louis LaBrecque:

Bancel LaFarge was born in 1875 in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the son of John LaFarge, a famous 19^th century artist. He married Mabel Hooper in 1898. She was an artist in her own right who had studied under John LaFarge. She could trace her family back to Commodore Oliver Perry. During this period of his life, LaFarge was an assistant to his father in his New York studio. Five years later Bancel LaFarge moved his family to Europe, where he lived for 12 years. During his time abroad he studied drawing and painting in Paris. His latter work was inspired by Byzantine mosaics and can be found in chapels throughout the United States. According to the obituary in the New York Times, LaFarge had a “deep love and understanding of nature” that appeared in his pastel and oil works. He was a member of the American Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Institute of Architects, and the National Society of Mural Painters. He served as the president of the Liturgical Arts Society, was an associate fellow of Davenport College at Yale University, the President of the Sleeping Giant Park Association, and a Member of the Connecticut State Commission on Sculpture. LaFarge had four sons, L. Bancel, Edward H., Henry A., and Thomas H. LaFarge. During the Depression, while working on various art projects funded by New Deal programs, LaFarge’s son, Thomas, helped him. In 1934 Bancel LaFarge began work on a lunette in the New Haven Public Library under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The project was completed under WPA Federal Arts Project funds. LaFarge passed away on August 15, 1938, and is buried in Newport.

Sources: AskART; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1987), p. 513; Forbes Watson, “Murals for a New Day,” New York Times, August 4, 1935; Obituary, New York Times, August 15, 1938; Obituary of Mabel Hooper LaFarge, New York Times, September 29, 1944. Please note that the John La Farge and LaFarge Family Papers, 1850-1972, are at the Smithsonian. See the finding aid at http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!208819!0.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Bancel LaFarge:

The sculptor Filippo Lagana, also known as Philip Lagana, was born on April 27, 1896, in Italy. He was a graduate of the Beaux Arts Institute of Design. He came to live in Darien, Connecticut. Lagana was a member of the Darien Guild of Seven Arts and the Silvermine Guild of Artists. His portrait, Clarence Roe, is in the Pennsylvania Museum of Art. He worked for the Public Works of Art Project. Under its successor, the WPA Federal Arts Project, he taught adult education classes in Stamford and created 6 bas reliefs. Lagana died in 1963.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters(1986), p. 513; Who Was Who in American Art (1985), p.354; AskART.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Philip Lagana:

The only work of Arthur Laing’s for the Federal Arts Project was a six ft. by four ft. Air Raid Warden Chart done in oil in New Haven for the Hartford State Defense Council in 1941. Otherwise nothing is known. There were an Arthur and Marie Laing in Chester but Arthur’s obituary does not mention his artistic skills. Marie, on the other hand, was an artist. There is not enough evidence to connect the two Laings.

Source: WPA Program Record Card.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Arthur Laing:

Robert Lambdin was born in 1886 in a sod house on the prairie in Kansas. He was reared in Denver, Colorado and attended schools there. He then attended the Henry Read School of Fine Arts in Denver for a year and went to work in the art departments of the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Republican. His job required that he complete a drawing for one news story a day. In 1911 Lamden married Lillian Peters and moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he worked for theKansas City Star doing feature work. He attended classes at the Kansas City Art Institute studying painting under C. A. Wilimovsky. He also taught black and white illustration there. Lambdin and his wife moved to New York City in 1917 where he worked as a free lance illustrator for magazines and for commercial purposes. In 1918 the couple was living in Leonia, New Jersey and then moved to Westport, Connecticut. Under the Federal Arts Project, Lambdin painted three panels for a mural entitled The Spirit of Adventure for the Bedford Elementary School in Westport. Photographs in his WPA file suggest that he also painted a mural at the Bridgeport Post Office. In 1942 Lambdin was hired by the Bridgeport Brass Company to paint murals covering the theme “Brass Through the Ages.” He was active in community matters and served as director and archives chairman of the Westport-Weston Arts Council. He was a member of the National Society of Mural Painters and the Society of Illustrators, and he produced art for magazines and juvenile books. Later in life he painted scenes from the Kansas of his youth. Lamden died in 1981 in Westport.

Sources:  WPA Biography; WPA Artist’s Work Card; AskART; Who Was Who In American Art (1985), p. 355; Dorothy and John Tarrant, A Community of Artists; Westport-Weston, 1900-1985 (1985), pp. 8, 35-37; Joel Thompson, “Industrial Murals May be Used in Bus, Train Stations,” originally published in the Connecticut Post and found atwww.railfan.net/lists/rshsdepot-digest/200402/msg00038.html; Kathleen Maher and Stephanie Cutrone, “Art and Industry:  Age of the New Deal Exhibit” at www.barnum-museum.org/artandindustry.htm; New York Times: “Art Events From Out of Town, September 9, 1928, “The Westport Art Market,” July 3, 1932, “Pageant of Westport to Mark Anniversary,” August 13, 1935, “Murals at Science Museum,” January 5, 1944, Andree Brooks, “For Murals of the Depression, New Life in Public Buildings,” December 9, 1984; “Sitting Pretty for Folks at Home,” Hartford Courant, November 12, 1944.

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

Karl Lang was born in Biberach, Germany on September 9, 1897, the only child of a wealthy family. At the Upper Real School at Stuttgart, he learned English and drawing. His father urged him to go into Colonial service, but Karl preferred drawing. His instructor, Herr Gansmueller, encouraged him to pursue art. When he was 16 or 17, Lang came to America. In 1922, while living in Stamford, he married Alma Arsenault. For five years Lang served as a studio assistant to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor famous for his gigantic outdoor sculptures at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota and Stone Mountain, Georgia. Lang may have accompanied Borglum to these sites. By 1926 he had opened his own studio in New Haven, Connecticut. Prior to the WPA Federal Arts Project, he worked for the Public Works of Art Project. He began working for the WPA in 1936. Project officials described his work as “filled with feeling and action.” Between 1936 and 1941 Lang completed 18 statues and plaques, three easel works, and one mural. Among his most famous works is the statue of World War I veteran Timothy Francis Ahern in New Haven. Lang died in September of 1952.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; Connecticut Historical Society, Civil War Monuments of Connecticut “Karl Lang”-online resource; Social Security Death Index; “Statue of New Haven War Hero Takes Shape,” Hartford Courant, September 14, 1936; “Will Unveil Statue of Columbus Oct. 12,” Hartford Courant, August 14, 1941, “Artists Take Part in New City Show,” New York Times, July 1, 1936.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Karl Lang:

Michael Anthony Lauretano was born August 28, 1915 in Thomaston, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale University in 1938 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and began his work for the WPA Federal Arts Project on August 4, 1938 restoring colonial designs and painting murals in historic buildings throughout Connecticut and New York. Most of his work under the WPA was done for the Index of American Art, and one of his plates for the Index appears in the 1950 book The Index of American Design. He completed a total of 13 plates for the Index. Laurentano also painted a design for the seal of the City of Middletown, Connecticut, that hung directly over the mayor’s desk in the Council Chamber of the City Hall. His WPA artwork is represented in the National Gallery of Art collection. His career as a graphic artist continued until his 85th year. In June of 1939, he married Mafalda (May) Giacomelli and had two children, Michael and Barbara. He died on February 20, 2008 at the age of 92. 

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Federal Arts Project Newsletter, August 1938; Erwin O. Christensen, The Index of American Design (1950), pp. 185, 207; Obituary, Toronto Star, February 24, 2008; Laura Dauphine.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Michael Lauretano:

Katherine Stewart Lawson was born Katherine Stewart in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 9, 1891. She attended school in Washington D.C. and went on to the Chicago Art Institute where she won an “honorable mention” in sculpture. She won a scholarship at the Art Students League in New York, and from that time forward she focused exclusively on sculpture. She won the Shaw Memorial Prize at the American Academy of Design. She married Neil Lawson and moved to Connecticut in 1915. For several years Lawson stopped producing art and devoted her time to the care of her elderly mother. In 1935 Lawson was seriously injured when she was hit by a truck. She worked for the Public Works of Art Project and then for the WPA Federal Arts Project in 1936, completing two reliefs and four busts. Her sculpture was allocated to Norwalk High school, Roger Ludlow High School also in Norwalk, and the Norwalk Hospital. The date of Lawson’s death is unknown.

 Sources: WPA Artist’s Card; WPA Biography; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1986), p. 526; “Norwalk Woman Critically Hurt,” Hartford Courant,January 20, 1935; “Norwalk Sculptor Does Bust of Mark Twain, Hartford Courant, February 21, 1937.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Katherine Lawson:

Nathaniel Little was born on February 18, 1893 in Helena, Montana. He attended the University of Montana where he received his Bachelor of Arts. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He practiced illustration and eventually took up painting. Little’s work was exhibited at the National Academy of New York, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Chicago Art Institute, Albright Gallery, Grand Central Galleries in New York, and various travelling exhibitions. At the time of his work for the WPA Federal Arts Project in the early 40s, he was single and living on Rowland Street in Mystic, Connecticut. He first worked for the Public Works of Art Project. For the WPA, he completed a total of 23 oil paintings. They were allocated to the Mystic Oral School and Fort Wright in New York. Little’s date of death is unknown.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; AskART;Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1986), p. 547.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Nathaniel Little:

All that we know about Gabriel Luchetti is that he was born in New Haven on January 8, 1918 to Nicola and Margaret Luchetti. He had two brothers and two sisters. We know nothing about his early art career or his education. He worked on the Federal Art Project while he was part of the National Youth Administration. People from this program often assisted artists. The FAP newsletter, “Art in February,” states that Luchetti had left his job at the FAP to go to New York and take art lessons taught by an important figure drawing artist and teacher, Nicolaidos, at the Art Students’ League. The 1940 census shows him living at 75 Main St. In 1959, Luchetti was teaching art in his New Haven studio and served as a selection juror for the second annual exhibit of the Connecticut Classic Arts, Inc. Luchetti was President of the organization in 1960 and 1961. In the latter year, he was living in Hamden. He died in May 1963.

Sources: Social Security Death Index; FAP time card signed by Gabriel Luchetti; FAP Newsletter, “Art in February,” 1938; Hartford Courant articles: “Artists Invited to Enter Classic Arts Exhibition,” August 9, 1959; “Classics Arts Exhibit Scheduled at Fairfield,” July 24, 1960; “Classic Art Exhibition Is Today,” August 17, 1961; “Gabriel Luchetti in the 1940 Census,” Ancestry.com at http://www.ancestry.com?1940-census/usa/Connecticut/Gabriel-Lucheti_4s; Greg Gherardi.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Gabriel Luchetti:

Matthew Lyons completed 48 easels for the WPA, though 43% of these were rejected or returned to the artist. He lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut during his tenure with the project from 1938 to 1939.

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

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Matthew Lyons: