Connecticut WPA Art

Richter, Mischa (1911-2001) For some WPA artists, recognition of their talents came after the Federal Arts Project. Mischa Richter was one of these artists. He was born in 1911 in Kharkov, Ukraine. He recollected once that his “childhood house was filled with song and neighborhood streets filled with magicians and acrobats.” Daily he took French and German lessons from his gov...

Michalczyk, Casimer (1914-2005)Casimir Michalczyk was born in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts in 1914. He attended Classical High School and after, worked on a mural for the Springfield Museum of Natural History. He enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated in 1938. While attending he painted in Provincetown with John Frazier and apprenticed in stone carving in ...

LaFarge, Bancel (1875-1938)Bancel LaFarge was born in 1875 in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the son of John LaFarge, a famous 19th 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...

Curry, John Steuart (1897-1946) John Steuart Curry and James Henry Daugherty were two artists in the Connecticut Federal Arts Project who were nationally and internationally celebrated. Curry was one of the three top regionalist artists in the country, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton being the two others. He was born on November 14, 1897, near Dunavant, Kansas. He took his...

Schmitt, Carl (1889-1989)Carl Schmitt was born in Warren, Ohio on May 6, 1889. His father was a musician and music teacher, and both parents encouraged the young Schmitt’s talent in art. Zell Hart Deming, owner of the Warren Chronicle, recognized his talent in her salons for writers and artists, and when he was seventeen, she bankrolled his studies in New York. Schmitt first at...

Luchetti, Gabriel (1918-1963) 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 oft...

Sloane Jr., Thomas O’Conor (1879-1963) Thomas O’Conor Sloane, Jr. worked for the WPA Federal Arts Project taking photographs of historic Connecticut interiors. A gum print that he created was shown at the Connecticut Tercentenary exhibition in New Haven.  He is the son of Isabel X. Mitchel and Dr. Thomas O'Conor Sloane (1851-1940) who was a scientist, inventor, author, edito...

Rutkoski, Frank J. (1905-2000?) Frank Rutkoski began work for the WPA Federal Arts Project on November 20, 1935. Prior to that, he had worked on the Public Works of Art Project. He completed eight murals and 13 easel works for the WPA. One mural is about the Amistad captives and can be seen at Troup Junior High School in New Haven. Other works are at Bethlehem School, Newingto...

Lambdin, Robert Lynn (1886-1987) 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 ...