Maine and the Index of American Design

Talk by Farnsworth Curator Jane Bianco

During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration helped provide employment for people in the arts between 1935 and 1942. One of the most ambitious of the Federal Art Projects was the Index of American Design, a program that engaged artists across the country to contribute to a picture archive of American popular arts. Their work now comprises a collection of more than eighteen thousand illustrations in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Join Jane Bianco, Farnsworth curator of the current exhibition Maine and the Index of American Design in a presentation detailing what she learned about Maine’s contribution to the Index  project. Following the talk Bianco will lead a tour of the Crosman Gallery, featuring twenty-four Maine project illustrations from the Index collection on loan from the National Gallery, along with some of the original artifacts they depict, as well as vintage photographs of this subject matter from 1930s Maine.

Farnsworth Curator Jane Bianco has been with the museum for a decade, during which time she has curated architectural, textile, painting and drawing, sculpture and print exhibitions at the museum.

Cost: $12; $10 members