Progress of Maritime Trade Facilities

Commissioned to create night gates for the new headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission, William McVey collaborated with the building’s architects, Bennett, Parsons & Frost, to design a series of six bas-relief panels to symbolize the chronological development of American maritime trade. Framing the four entrances to the building on Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, the cast-aluminum night gates are chronologically read from top left to bottom right. The series begins with a depiction of Columbus’s fleet of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria (left) juxtaposed with a typical eighteenth-century commercial cargo ship. Moving forward in time, the center two panels portray a clipper ship (left) and early steamship (right). Illustrating contemporary maritime vessels, the bottom two panels include a modern ocean liner (left) and large seaplane (right).

William McVey studied architecture at Rice University in Houston prior to graduating from the Cleveland School of Art with a degree in illustration in 1928. McVey worked briefly as an architectural modeler in Houston before traveling to Paris in order to pursue classical training in sculpture. McVey’s early education in architecture and illustration greatly shaped his ability and perspective as a sculptor. Returning from France in 1931, McVey taught at the Cleveland Museum of Art and completed several commissions for the Public Works of Art Project during the Great Depression.