Allan Houser "Buffalo Hunt," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
Description
The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building contains one of the largest collections of New Deal art in Washington DC, by some of the finest American artists of the time – including several by Native American artists.
The Indian Craft Shop, Room 1023, was included in the building in order to aid Native American artists and crafts people to reach a wider public (it was originally known as the “Arts and Crafts Shop”).
On the north wall of the Indian Craft Shop on the 1st floor there are two small murals by Allan Capron Houser, “Buffalo Hunt” and “Breaking Camp at Wartime,” which date from 1938.
On the south wall of the shop is a painting by Gerald Nailor, “Deer Stalking,” also from 1938.
The Department of Interior Museum offers regular mural tours; check their website for information and registration.
For more information on the Interior building, its art and the artists, see Look and Perrault 1986. Artworks begin on p. 110.
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Entrance to Indian Craft Shop, Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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Allan Houser "Breaking Camp," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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Signature of Allan Houser "Breaking Camp," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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Signature of Gerald Nailor "Stalking Deer" Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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Nailor mural, Indian Craft Shop, Dept of Interior
Source notes
Look, David and Carole Perrault. The Interior Building: Its Architecture and Its Art. Washington DC: US Department of Interior, National Park Service, 1986. pp. 110-172. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015029850214&view=1up&seq=1
McLerran, Jennifer. 2009. A New Deal for Native Art: Indian Arts and Federal Policy, 1933-1943. University of Arizona Press.
Project originally submitted by New Deal Art Registry on April 6, 2020.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal project site.
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The last mural above (a mounted couple with a donkey) is not from Nailor, but from the apache painter Allan Houser.