At The Smithsonian’s Museum of American Art

We’ve finally discovered an uncrowded day on which to visit Washington, DC—Thanksgiving Day.

The Metro was uncrowded. The city streets sparsely populated, and our visit to the American Museum of Art delightfully calm

Why, among all the Smithsonian museums, did we pick that one? A wonderful exhibit called 1934: A New Deal for Artists.

In a show of 56 paintings created under the New Deal’s Public Works of Art Program, scenes from everyday American life are portrayed by a huge variety of artists working in myriad forms.

Most of these artists, I’d never heard of.

But, the sense of the time, the feeling of mid-1930s life in the USA, is irresistibly and compellingly communicated in displays sorted by theme—The City, The Country, People, Labor, etc.

Amazingly, the Public Works of Art Program lasted only six months, from mid-December 1933 to June 1934.

This exhibition celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Program. It runs until January 3, 2010.

Indeed, the building itself is worth a visit. It was once the U.S. Patent Office. Now, grandly columned, it houses both American Art and the National Portrait Gallery, and is centered on a delightful, huge, glass-canopied courtyard.

Well worth visiting if you’re in the D.C. area.