The title of this work references President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1937 inaugural address, in which he proclaimed, "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." One Third of a Nation is also the title of Arthur Arent’s 1938 play, which emphasized the plight of the poor and was funded by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre Project. In this painting Guglielmi draws attention to the horrid living conditions during the Great Depression. The forms in the foreground resemble coffins and subsequently suggest a similar reading of the brick tenements behind them. The floral wreath adorning the building’s cornice reinforces this metaphor.
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Title:"One Third of a Nation"
Artist:O. Louis Guglielmi (American (born Egypt), Cairo 1906–1956 Amagansett, New York)
Date:1939
Medium:Oil and tempera on Masonite
Dimensions:30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of New York City W. P. A., 1943
Object Number:43.47.10
Inscription: Signed and inscribed (lower right): Guglielmi / F.A.P.
New York City W. P. A. (1939–43; gift to MMA)
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Metropolitan and Whitney Museum Accessions," September 17–October 3, 1946, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Comparisons in American Art and Literature," May 7–31, 1949, no catalogue.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "The Precisionist View in American Art," November 13–December 25, 1960, unnumbered cat. (p. 56; dated 1943).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The Precisionist View in American Art," January 24–February 28, 1961, unnumbered cat.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "The Precisionist View in American Art," March 21–April 23, 1961, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Precisionist View in American Art," May 17–June 18, 1961, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The Precisionist View in American Art," June 30–August 6, 1961, unnumbered cat.
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Guglielmi: Exhibition of Paintings 1931 to 1954," November 7–25, 1967, no. 5.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch. "An American Dream World: Romantic Realism 1930–1955," January 30–March 5, 1975, unnum. brochure (dated ca. 1938).
Oswego. Tyler Art Gallery, State University of New York College of Arts and Sciences. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," January 25–February 13, 1977, no. 7.
Hamilton, N. Y. Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," February 27–March 20, 1977, no. 7.
Albany Institute of History and Art. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," May 17–June 8, 1977, no. 7.
Wilmington. Delaware Art Museum. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," July 29–August 28, 1977, no. 7.
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," September 4–25, 1977, no. 7.
Alfred, N.Y. Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," September 30–October 28, 1977, no. 7.
Grey Art Gallery, New York University. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," November 17, 1977–January 3, 1978, no. 7.
Huntington, West Va. Huntington Galleries. "New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State," January 10–February 3, 1978, no. 7.
Trenton. New Jersey State Museum. "American Art of the 1930s: A Survey," February 10–April 22, 1979, no catalogue.
New York. ACA Galleries. "Social Art in America: 1930–1945," November 5–28, 1981, no. 25.
Chadds Ford, Penn. Brandywine River Museum. "Milk and Eggs: The American Revival of Tempera Painting, 1930–1950," March 9–May 19, 2002, no. 16.
Akron Art Museum. "Milk and Eggs: The American Revival of Tempera Painting, 1930–1950," June 15–September 1, 2002, no. 16.
Lawrence. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "Milk and Eggs: The American Revival of Tempera Painting, 1930–1950," September 21–November 17, 2002, no. 16.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "FDR and the WPA Era: Art Across America," August 15–October 31, 2004, unnumbered cat. (p. 9).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s," September 5–December 10, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pl. 1).
Blanche R. Brown. "The Correlation of Literature and the Fine Arts." College Art Journal 9 (Winter 1949–1950), p. 178.
Martin Friedman. "The Precisionist View." Art in America 48, no. 3 ([Fall] 1960), ill. p. 35, dates it about 1940.
John Baker. "O. Louis Guglielmi: A Reconsideration." Archives of American Art Journal 15, no. 2 (1975), p. 17.
Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz. New Deal for Art: The Government Art Projects of the 1930s with Examples from New York City & State. Exh. cat., Tyler Art Gallery, State University of New York College of Arts and Sciences, Oswego. Hamilton, N.Y., 1977, p. 78, no. 7, ill.
Hilton Kramer. "Art: Projects of W. P. A. Revisited." New York Times (November 18, 1977), p. 75.
Jeffrey Wechsler. Surrealism and American Art 1931–1947. Exh. cat., Rutgers University Art Gallery. New Brunswick, N.J., 1977, fig. XXX, reproduces this picture, but discusses the artist's "Tenements" (Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Ga.).
Doris E. Brown. "Art Canvasses '30s Lifestyle." Central New Jersey Home News (February 18, 1979), p. F10.
John Baker. O. Louis Guglielmi: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., Rutgers University Art Gallery. New Brunswick, N. J., 1980, p. 70 n. 76.
Susan Harkavy in Milton W. Brown. Social Art in America: 1930–1945. Exh. cat., ACA Galleries. New York, 1981, p. 34, no. 25, ill.
Ilene Susan Fort. "American Social Surrealism." Archives of American Art Journal 22, no. 3 (1982), p. 12, calls it "One Third of a Nation (Tenements)".
Matthew Baigell inAmerican Art, 1930–1970. Exh. cat., Galleria Lingotto, Turin. Milan, 1992, p. 48, ill. p. 70 (color).
Gerritt L. Lansing. "'A Neurotic Mirror': The Painting of O. Louis Gugliemi, 1932–1943." PhD diss., New York University, 1999, p. 374 n. 10, colorpl. 331.
Erika Doss. "Looking at Labor: Images of Work in 1930s American Art." Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. Design, Culture, Identity: The Wolfsonian Collection 24 (2002), p. 245.
Richard J. Boyle inMilk and Eggs: The American Revival of Tempera Painting, 1930–1950. Exh. cat., Brandywine River Museum. Chadds Ford, Penn., 2002, pp. 44, 219, no. 16, ill. p. 45 (color), dates it about 1937.
Paul Manoguerra. One Hundred American Paintings. Athens, Ga., 2011, p. 254, ill. p. 257 (color).
Paul Manoguerra. Art Interrupted: Advancing American Art and the Politics of Cultural Diplomacy. Exh. cat., Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University. Athens, Ga., 2012, p. 140.
Rebecca Shaykin. Edith Halpert, the Downtown Gallery, and the Rise of American Art. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum. New York, 2019, p. 207 n. 29.
Allison Rudnick. Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, pp. 13, 194, colorpl. 1.
Aaron Douglas (American, Topeka, Kansas 1899–1979 Nashville, Tennessee)
ca. 1935–39
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