“Caricature of the First American Artists’ Congress. From left to right on stage: Heywood Broun, George Biddle, Stuart Davis, Julia Codesida of Peru, Lewis Mumford (Chairman), Margaret Bourke-White, Rockwell Kent, Jose Clemente Orozco of Mexico, Paul Manship, Peter Blume, and Aaron Douglas. In the background: Members of the presiding committee sign their praise of the Congress. In the foreground: The audience in different moods, mostly creative.” Caption quoted from Peppino Mangravite, “Aesthetic Freedom and the Artists Congress,” American Magazine of Art, April 1936, pp.234-237
I am a Graphic Designer who is currently completing my MA in Art History at George Mason University. This web site is the merging of my research into the WPA murals painted by Peppino Mangravite, the Italian born American artist, and a History in New Media class assignment to create a web site. It represents my desire to continue researching the life and work of Mangravite beyond his murals in the hope of one day offering a concise biography of the artist.
I received my BA in Graphic Design Communication from Philadelphia University, after spending 10 years working in Marketing and Graphic Design in Northern Virginia. Returning to school at George Mason University in 2010 to pursue masters in Art History I have focused on the impact of graphic arts on the fine arts and early 20th century American art.
I have worked with Dr. Michele Greet on her project Transatlantic Encounters: Latin American Artists in Paris between the Wars, 1918-1939, focusing on the research and mapping of the Paris Galleries. Outside of the school environment I have spent time as a volunteer at the Smithsonian American History Museum and the Seattle Art Museum taking part in the installation of Sandra Cinto’s site specific work Encontro das Águas in 2012.
I never intended to find myself looking at 1930s American art or to become so interested in an artist whose work is atypical of my taste in art, however each step into the history has put me deeper into the search and discussion of Mangravite and American art. One of the wonders of the internet is the paths it can lead you on and Peppino Mangravite is has functioned as a white rabbit leading me on this wonderful adventure. Mangravite’s name had shown up as a supervisory artist in the biography of a family friend. It was surprising that of all the educators the artist had worked with he had selected to mention Mangravite, an artist which I had never heard of.
While looking into American muralism and the art produced as part of the WPA I found Mangravite’s name again and the journey into this interesting point in his life and American history was begun. That being said this is a project for which I do not see an end, as I never intended it to start. What I do hope is that this will introduce Mangravite to others and start them questioning the names on paintings which have not found their way into survey texts.
In researching I have made every effort to use images in the public domain, provide source documentation or secure the use of images and content displayed on this web site. This is often challenging particularly in the case of governmental property, such as the murals painted as part of Section. For a well organized presentation of the legality of the image use and the work of Federal At Project and Works Progress Administration please view this posting. Ultimately this is a non-for profit site intended for educational use only, please contact me with any concerns as to the use of images on this web site.