None has done greater justice to the musical element in Schanker

While a supervisor, Louis Schanker did several murals for the WPA. A series of 11 murals was done for the TB wards’ dining room and at the Neponsit Beach Children’s Hospital in Rockaway Queens. The official pictures, taken for the WPA, are available on line from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Some show him working on the murals while others must have been taken at the dedication ceremonies because he is shown wearing uncharacteristically formal attire. In the late 1970’s Schanker checked with the Hospital to see if the murals were still there. The Hospital had been converted into a senior citizens home. The administrator did not know of any pictures, but initiated a search that proved fruitless. In a 1970 interview Schanker said that he was pretty sure that they were removed when the Army used the building for returning servicemen in the late 40’s and early 50’s. When the building was taken over by the HHC in 1983 the images were listed as “missing.”

	On the dedication of the artist's murals on August 6th, 1939 at the Municipal Broadcasting Station, Edward Alden Jewell in a New York Times article said: "Though much of the four murals dedicated last week at WNYC is, in its present context, linked with music, Mr. Schanker's alone has been constructed manifestly on a basic musical motif, its abstract forms being symbolic of various instruments and notations. Attempted classification, in the realm of modern abstract art entails always an element of danger, so controversial the whole thing has grown to be. Taking a deep breath and plunging, this diver comes with the reckless opinion that Mr. Schanker,s abstract idiom is of the emotional type and the three others are cerebral. Upon the one hand, too, we have an idiom that is quasi-representational and upon the other hand we have an idiom that departs entirely from representation at least from representation as commonly understood..." Thanks to the combined efforts of Andy Lanset, Cara McCormick and Judith Kampfner of WNYC efforts are underway to restore this historic work.
Please click on images to enlarge



WNYC Mural Study, 1937, gouache on paper, 11.50 X 33.25"	Trio, 1938 woodcut print, 7 X 13.5"	WNYC Mural Study, 1937, gouache on paper, 11.50 X 33.25"


WNYC Mural Studies, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 15.25 X 26.25"	Mural Study, 1937 gouache on paper, 15 X 21"	WNYC Mural Studies, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 15.25 X 26.25"

	While a supervisor, Louis Schanker did several murals for the WPA. A series of 11 murals was done for the TB wards’ dining room and at the Neponsit Beach Children’s Hospital in Rockaway Queens. The official pictures, taken for the WPA, are available on line from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Some show him working on the murals while others must have been taken at the dedication ceremonies because he is shown wearing uncharacteristically formal attire. In the late 1970’s Schanker checked with the Hospital to see if the murals were still there. The Hospital had been converted into a senior citizens home. The administrator did not know of any pictures, but initiated a search that proved fruitless. In a 1970 interview Schanker said that he was pretty sure that they were removed when the Army used the building for returning servicemen in the late 40’s and early 50’s. When the building was taken over by the HHC in 1983 the images were listed as “missing.”


Mural Study, North Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 15.25" X 26.25"		Mural Study, South Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 24 X 28.5"


Mural Study, North Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 15.25" X 26.25"		Mural Study, North Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 15.25" X 26.25"


Mural Study, East Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 21.5 X 29"		Mural Study, East Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 21.5 X 29"


Mural Study, West Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 19.25 X 24"		Mural Study, West Wall, 1937 gouache on paper, sheet size 19.25 X 24"




	The third project which Louis Schanker completed while in the Mural Division of the WPA was for the Hall of Medicine and Public Health Building at the New York world's Fair (1939-1940). Large sharply angled geometric shapes are the background foil for a variety of organic cell and ameba shapes, an oversized head, and directional symbols such as an arrow and dotted lines.


Archives of American Art	First Sketch for Worlds Fair Mural, 1939 gouache on paper, 12.5 X 8.5"

		WPA murals were frequently a group activity. Schanker worked with several assistants on some of his projects. Artist Joseph Hochfeld and another assistant are pictured with Schanker in front of the World's Fair mural. Note the working sketch sitting on the floor to the left. (Photo courtesy Laura Thompson)

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