Collection Information

Size: Transcript: 15 pages

Format: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 37 min.

Summary: An interview of Arnold Blanch conducted by Joseph Trovato on 1964 November 4 for the Archives of American Art.

Blanch speaks of his background and training at the Art Students League; his work on three post office murals for the Federal Art Project; the effect of the FAP on artists; the politics of the FAP; accusations of communism against Blanch and others; government support for the arts; and Blanch's personal art collection.

Biographical/Historical Note

Arnold Blanch (1896-1968) was a mural painter in Woodstock, New York.

Provenance

This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Transcript: microfilm reel 3418 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Arnold Blanch, 1964 November 4. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.