ABSTRACT
Government-sponsored art programs however, were often highly criticized. Political analyst Russell Lynes wrote that many conservative members of Congress considered art, for the most part, to be a “frivolous” expenditure. The New Deal legislation had a variety of programs that funded public art. Mounted on the museum’s north portico, the murals, considered in 1938 to be “one of the most important mural paintings in the South,” have, for the past fifty-seven years, added a classic feature to the museum’s facade. As owners of the building, the department of Agriculture and Immigration of the State of Louisiana made the final decision on a theme for the frescoes. Albrizio had a special technique for creating the frescoes. Standing as stately as the building itself, the frescoes’ oversized figures relay a message to the viewer as to the significance of the laborer’s work at a time when American pride had fallen.
