Art for Your Sake is an American art-appreciation radio series that was broadcast on NBC-Red[1] from October 7, 1939, until April 27, 1940.[2]

Background

The National Art Society (NAS), which was formed shortly before Art for Your Sake debuted,[1] helped to produce the program, which had as host Bernard Myers,[2] a professor of art history at New York University. The program sought to extend appreciation of, and access to, art "to audiences far removed from the refinements and dilettantism of Paris and New York."[3] One of the driving forces behind the program was James Rowland Angell, who became educational counselor at NBC in 1937, immediately after having been president of Yale University. He also was chairman of the Board of Trustees of NAS. He said that the program was "the first practical method I have heard of for bringing widespread public participation in the arts."[3]: 130 

Format

Episodes dramatized the stories behind masterpieces[2] with Myers discussing each painting to complement the drama.[1] Through the program, "a listener learned how Gaugin painted 'Tahitian Woman' and what influenced Rubens in his execution of 'Fox Hunt'."[2] An episode about Thomas Hart Benton "intercut interview segments with relevant excerpts from secular and sacred folk music".[4] Some content of episodes came from diaries and letters of the artists, and other content came from diaries and letters of people who knew them.[2] Other artists who were featured on the program included Grant Wood, Emil Ganso, Rockwell Kent, Eugene Speicher, and Harry Watrous.[3]: 130 

In some cities, including Cleveland, Denver, Milwaukee, and San Francisco, museums arranged for exhibitions, study groups, or both, related to the paintings featured on the program.[3]: 136 

Home and school studies

The NAS offered supplementary content that enabled a listener to study a painting visually while it was discussed on the air.[2] Four portfolios were available for $1 each. Each portfolio contained full-color reproductions of 16 paintings, and three had illustrated brochures with critical and biographical content.[5]

More formal use of episodes and supplementary material occurred in some schools. For example, radio station KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota, made transcriptions of the series (along with full-color reproductions of the paintings, supplementary material for students, and a teacher's manual) available to all schools in Minnesota. In one case, a sophomore art class at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis heard nine of the transcriptions, and the teacher assigned a creative project after each session. The Walker Art Center, also in Minneapolis, displayed the students' work for a month, and it "attracted considerable attention".[6]

Production

Art for Your Sake was broadcast on Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.[2] Some episodes were simulcast on television station W2XBS in New York City.[7]

Episodes

Partial List of Episodes of Art for Your Sake
DateArtist
October 14, 1939Rockwell Kent[8]
October 21, 1939Leonardo da Vinci[9]
October 28, 1939El Greco[9]
December 30, 1939Mary Cassatt[10]
January 6, 1940Thomas Hart Benton[3]
January 13, 1940Michelangelo[11]

Critical response

Leo G. Mazow wrote in his book Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound that along with some of Benton's paintings and documents from NBC and NAS, "the script for the January 1940 dramatization of Benton's life on Art for Your Sake presents in a new, critical light questions posed by the artist's regionalist agenda, pointing as well to the movement's often overlooked mission of the mass distribution of cultural products."[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Art Group Formed to Educate Public: It WiII Give Scholarships and Help Sponsor Radio Series". The New York Times. October 7, 1939. p. 22. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dunning, John (May 7, 1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-0-19-984045-8. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mazow, Leo G.; Benton, Thomas Hart (2012). Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound. Penn State Press. pp. 123–124. ISBN 978-0-271-05083-6. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ Morgan, Stacy I. (April 18, 2017). Frankie and Johnny: Race, Gender, and the Work of African American Folklore in 1930s America. University of Texas Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-4773-1210-0. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Radio Programs". Wisconsin Library Bulletin. January 1940. p. 5. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  6. ↑ FM for Education. U. S. Office of Education. pp. 9–10. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Notes on Television". The New York Times. February 4, 1940. p. 128. ProQuest 105155893. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Radio Programs". The Tampa Tribune. October 7, 1939. p. 12. Retrieved December 14, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 "NBC Launches Appreciation Series As New Feature". The Altoona Tribune. October 6, 1939. p. 19. Retrieved December 14, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Art". The Cincinnati Post. December 30, 1939. p. 11. Retrieved December 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Museum Increases Space for Visitors". The New York Times. January 13, 1940. p. 18. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
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