Comment on WPA exhibit shows intriguing landscapes

By JOHN BRANDENBURG For The OklahomanOften bleak, but frequently intriguing landscapes dominate a show at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. The exhibit is the 75th anniversary showing of the museum's Works Progress Administration (WPA) collection. Many of the 28 works in the collection depict “labor, infrastructure and industrial development,” as well as rural landscapes. Water provides the main element in a number of the most effective and engaging compositions. A “Green Wave” threatens to engulf a rugged, rocky coastline, in an oil by Joseph De Martini, for example. Providing a crucial barrier against flooding is a “New England Dam,” in an oil by Henry Elis Mattson. The part water plays in an oil by Leon Garland is more atmospheric, giving a greenish cast to a “Fishing Village” wharf scene. Dark cascading waters help to divide the picture plane, supplying a cubistic, almost fanciful feel to “Power Plant #2” by William Schwartz. More overtly surrealistic and dreamlike is Raymond Brainin's brown-toned gouache of a woman, perhaps imagining a horse in the middle distance. Gray buildings, dark green foliage, and reddish waste waters, express the power and possible pollution of industry, in an oil by Morris Kantor. Gray clouds and gritty realism give a cutting edge to Edgar Britton's oil of “Shacks,” apparently abandoned. More eye-pleasing, thanks largely to a vivid yellow-green field, is a painting of “The Orchard,” by Sidney Laufman. A triangular green outcropping is sandwiched between triangular red rock formations, by a lake, in a screenprint by Elmer Capshaw. Born in Oklahoma City in 1920, Capshaw died in 1945. Nicely flattened are tempera paintings by Oklahoma artist Acee Blue Eagle of “Horses Grazing,” a “Buffalo Medicine Man,” and an “Indian with Red Blanket.” Dorothy Varian contributes a thoughtful, quietly evocative portrait of her friend and fellow WPA artist Eugenie Gershoy. A fish, a shell, an orange pumpkin and yellow fruit, represent “Sea and Land,” in a well-handled tempera painting by Elizabeth Terrell. Other fine works include Jennie Magafan's oil of a man “Ploughing,” behind a horse, and Emily Poirer's delicate depiction of “Haying.” The show is highly recommended in its run through July 2. — John Brandenburg Read more on NewsOK.com