Collection Information

Size: Transcript: 23 pages

Format: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 29 min.

Summary: An interview of Harry Bonath conducted by Dorothy Bestor on 1965 April 3 for the Archives of American Art.

Bonath speaks of his work on a mural project for the WPA Federal Art Project in the University of Washington Drama Department, including how the project was run, politics and other artists who were involved; his feelings about government support for the arts; and the economic situation for artists.

Biographical/Historical Note

Harry Bonath (1903-1976) was a painter in Seattle, Washington.

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 Harry Bonath, 1965 April 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.