A painting of a young child with short curly dark blond hair sits on the floor holding an articulated toy doll in their hands. The child is surrounded by colorful alphabet blocks and wears a white shirt with a blue collar and blue shorts. A pull toy with wheels is nearby.

Virginia Nye

The Engineer

About 1930s

Watercolor on paper

27½” W x 10½” H

About this artwork

Records indicate Virginia Nye’s art career essentially started and ended with the New Deal. One of her major contributions was hand-coloring printed plates for the Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design in New Mexico. In The Engineer, we see Nye’s keen eye for illustration, which is especially smart in its use of primary colors to enhance the image of a playful preschooler.

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Gallup’s New Deal art collection consists of over 120 objects created, purchased, or donated from 1933 to 1942 through New Deal federal art programs administered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to support artists during the Great Depression.

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