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Tennessee Valley Authority by Xavier Gonzalez
Photo CreditGSA\Nicole Avila
Tennessee Valley Authority
Photo CreditGSA\Nicole Avila

Tennessee Valley Authority

Artist
Year1937
Classification painting
Medium oil on canvas
Dimensions144 x 162 in. (365.8 x 411.5 cm)
Credits New Deal Art Program
Location


  • In a setting characteristic of the environment of Huntsville, which includes a few typical structures of the City, the artist has arranged five figures, each symbolic of a different phase of organized society. The central figure is intended to represent youth, fertility; the upper righthand figure, a symbol of work; the lower righthand figure, scientific agriculture, depicted by a young man holding in his hand a plant of corn, as if it were a book, the transition between the older method into a more scientific method. The figure decorating a piece of pottery expresses the artistic endeavors that a prosporous community is bound to develop; and, finally, the figure in the foreground holding the baby represents Motherhood. The Wilson and Norris Dams convey the idea that the prosperity enjoyed in this particular section of the country are due to the Government work in the control of the river.  The righthand side of the mural is devoted to the representation of methods of soil erosion, scientific ploughing and reforestation.  Work installed October 27, 1937. Commissioned by Section of Painting & Sculpture.