Gloucester City Hall: Winter Murals - Gloucester MA

City:: Gloucester, MA
Site Type:: Art Works, Murals
New Deal Agencies:: Arts Programs, Work Relief Programs, Federal Arts Project (FAP), Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Started:: 1934
Completed:: 1942
Artist:: Charles Allan Winter

Description

Gloucester City Hall contains several paintings by Charles Allan Winter.

“The Founding of Gloucester” was painted in 1934, with funding from an unknown federal agency.

“Education” was painted in 1935 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. It was originally installed at the old Central Grammar School.

In 1939, Charles Allan Winter also painted three WPA murals in the main lobby: ““City Council in Session” fills the space above the collector’s windows (approximately 7 feet high by 11 feet wide). “City Government” covers the opposite wall. Tucked in and around the arch-topped lunettes, the two-part mural, “Civic Virtues,” spreads across the two other opposing walls. This Winter series focuses on government themes as befitting their location, and the test of time. They offer special glimpses of our community in the 1930s as they include many portraits from life, great detail, artistry and ideas. Note the boys (youth) in the “planning” section of Civic Virtues clasping pieces from a model of the Gloucester High School.” (https://www.wickedlocal.com)

“Protection of Fishing,” the last mural painted for the Gloucester City Hall, was painted in 1942 with funds from the WPA Federal Art Project.