Black Panther

Alice Dinneen, Black Panther, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.89
Copied Alice Dinneen, Black Panther, 1934, oil on canvas, 30 1⁄8 x 24 1⁄8 in. (76.5 x 61.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.89

Artwork Details

Title
Black Panther
Artist
Date
1934
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
30 1⁄8 x 24 1⁄8 in. (76.5 x 61.4 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — New York City
  • Animal — panther
  • Landscape — tropic
Object Number
1964.1.89
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1964.1.89

Artwork Description

A black panther surrounded by tropical foliage hardly seems part of "the American Scene" that Public Works of Art Project artists were asked to depict. Yet the artist's taste for the exotic was common in an era when American city dwellers longed for the momentary escape provided by movies, plays, radio shows, and even the zoo. New Yorkers like Alice Dinneen found all these resources close at hand. She explained to the PWAP, "I am making studies of animals from life at the Bronx Zoo, and tropical plants, which I will compose together." The New York Botanical Garden, conveniently located next to the zoo, provided plants for Dinneen to study. A palm and a banana plant stand in the background, while an elephant ear and a caladium sprout just behind the reclining cat. Prayer plants add bright red and green touches to the lower corners of the painting. Grouping these common, imported plants around the reclining panther whose relatives roamed distant Africa and Asia, Dinneen created an appealingly lush imaginary retreat.

1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label

Related Books

1934_500.jpg
1934: A New Deal for Artists
During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.