About the work

George Biddle was the mastermind behind the Public Works Art Project; it was his petition to FDR for the creation of a national arts program that sparked nationwide interest in government funding of the arts. This work, depicting donkeys in various states of repose and decay in a loosely American southwestern setting, expresses some of the concerns of the New Deal artists: decay, struggle, rebirth, and the American landscape. The symbolism of the donkey in the print relates to Biddle’s fascination with the Mexican Muralist movement, to which he was exposed when he toured Mexico with Diego Rivera.

At least six examples out of the 100 impressions of this work in the edition are owned by museums, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Achenbach Foundation collection at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Attributes	Value
Medium	Lithograph
Date	1920-1940
Signing, Dating, and Titling	Signed, dated, editioned, and titled en recto at bottom
Framing	Custom framed and matted using conservation materials
Condition	Excellent Condition
Type	Old Etchings

Medium:

Lithograph in black ink on white BFK Rives wove paper

Date:

1928

Signature:

Signed en recto lower right, with date. Titled and editioned en recto lower left.

Framing:

Professionally framed in a vintage white oak frame behind 99% UV-filtering art glass using strictly conservation-grade materials.

Condition:

Excellent condition, very nicely inked.

Framed Size:

18 in. (h) x 23 in. (w) x 1 in. (d)

Literature:

Illustrated in Martha Pennigar, The Graphic Work of George Biddle (Corcoran Gallery: 1950), at p. 6.
Catalogues Raisonné:
Massey Trotter (New York Public Library: 1950), No. 46; Martha Pennigar, The Graphic Work of George Biddle (Corcoran Gallery: 1950), No. 80.

Exhibitions:

Exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery’s major Biddle retrospective of 1979 from which the Pennigar catalogue raisonné emerged.