McKinley Technical School library mural

Library at McKinley Technical High School after the completion of the New Deal mural created by Philip Fletcher Bell. Work commenced under the Public Works of Art Project. * Oral history interview with Philip Fletcher Bell, circa 1963, conducted by Harlan B. Phillips: HARLAN B. PHILLIPS: This is Phillip Fletcher Bell. 1635 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, D.C. Pause. What I think is of importance to discover is what it was you were doing in Washington in '34 and '35, prior to the emergence of the Federal Art Project under the WPA. PHILIP FLETCHER BELL: Well, I was painting a huge mural painting. for McKinley High School library. Some 120 feet of running wall's length, and it was about eight feet high. HARLAN B. PHILLIPS: Was this under the Treasury Department, or under the local — PHILIP FLETCHER BELL: It was under several things. HARLAN B. PHILLIPS: Yeah. PHILIP FLETCHER BELL: It started out — at the very beginning, they had different names for them. And it kept changing its name. I was stuck in the middle of it, and I had to be rescued and — to finish it. It took two years to do that. I have photographs of all that.

Date

c. 1936

Collection

National Photo Company

Archive

Library of Congress (via Wikimedia Commons)

Type

photograph

Original size

5,260 × 3,700 pixels

Need photos for a whole script? Add Find Any Photo to Claude and ask for this one by its id: 352539.