Thursday, April 30, 2009
DRAWING DEMOCRACY IN THE 1930S NEW DEAL ERA

The State Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 North Street, Harrisburg hosts a special lecture, tour and reception as part of the continuing exhibition Common Canvas: Pennsylvania’s New Deal Post Office Murals. The evening’s featured speaker is Michael Barton, Ph. D., Professor of American Studies and Social Studies at The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person and include a private tour of
the Common Canvas exhibit. Call (717) 772-6997 to charge
your tickets. This event is sponsored by the Friends of The
State Museum.

April 4, 2009 - June 30, 2010
THE FINE ART OF GIVING: GIFTS OF ART TO THE STATE MUSEUM OF PENNSYLVANIA 1998-2008

A selection of 85 paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and crafts, selected from the more than 400 gifts of art received between 1998 and 2008, will be exhibited at The State Museum through June 2010. Donations of are reviewed and approved by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Collections Committee and the Executive Director before acceptance into the permanent collection. Considerations include, but are not limited to: aesthetic and historic importance, relationship to Pennsylvania history, storage availability, physical condition, conservation cost, and/or anticipated future exhibition or educational use.

A tradition of giving by ordinary citizens, begun more than 150 years ago, has formed a collection of important Pennsylvania art. By 1850, donated paintings, prints and sculptures were being displayed in the then new State Capitol in Harrisburg. In 1905, when The State Museum was created, those early gifts of art became the core of the Museum’s art collection. Although The State Museum does not receive a state allocation for the purchase of fine art, today the collection includes 7000 works, dating from 1650 to the present.

The mission of the Art Collection at The State Museum of Pennsylvania is: to collect, interpret and preserve art, created by Pennsylvania artists, or artists who greatly influence the arts in Pennsylvania, or of which the subject has a direct connection to the State’s history and culture.

Through this exhibition, The State Museum gratefully recognizes the donors of the past decade, whose gifts will benefit generations to come.

A listing of the 400 gifts will be available on the web site, www.statemuseumpa.org, as well as images of art donated during the past decade, but not currently exhibited.

November 23, 2008 - May 17, 2009
A COMMON CANVAS:
PENNSYLVANIA'S NEW DEAL POST OFFICE MURALS
This exhibit features photographs, color studies, archival images and original artworks associated with some of the 88 murals and artworks, commissioned for Pennsylvania post offices through the United States Treasury Department between 1933 and 1942. Although the artworks are widely dispersed across Pennsylvania, they represent a treasure trove of public art and a unique portrait of Pennsylvania society and culture circa the Great Depression. Each artwork, whether a mural or sculpture, aimed to capture something intrinsically important about the Pennsylvania community in which they were to be installed. Given the Commonwealth’s legacy as a manufacturing state, industries such as coal and steel are recurring motifs, but the collection also reflects other traditions as well: agriculture, glass making, lumbering, historical events/individuals, Native Americans and a variety of town and streetscapes.

This exhibition, co-curated by the State Museum's Dr. Curt Miner and, State College native David Lembeck, represents the first public exhibition of Pennsylvania’s collection, and will offer visitors a rare opportunity to glimpse, in one venue, what is likely the Commonwealth’s largest public art collection.

Click here to download a flyer .pdf