On My Sculptures of Carved Wood

Abstract

I write with feeling about the dichotomy between technical writing in the domain of political economy and the very different way sculpture must be described, because, even before I began my college education, I had acquired a passionate interest in these two fields, no doubt an unusual combination. Today, a half century later, I teach both subjects at Princeton University and at New York University. I began my formal education in art in 1936 in the free classes made available by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the U.S.A. during its Great Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt was President. The WPA, to relieve widespread unemployment, provided jobs whenever possible in fields in which people had been trained. It sponsored the painting of murals in public buildings, the organization of theatrical groups (notably Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Productions) and excellent classes in the arts [1]. The economic depression affected both the themes that artists chose and the media used. A curious detail sticks in my memory-the advantage for lithography because it was then so inexpensive. Lithograph stones could be had for the trouble of carrying them home from a bank that had failed-for banks had once used lithograph stones to print certificates that would be hard to counterfeit.