Conservation in Context began with the recognition that the meaning of artworks changes over time, that what an artist intends and an audience perceives can be very different things. James Michael Newell's "Evolution of Western Civilization" fresco, located in the library of Evander Childs High School, is among the most significant WPA/FAP commissions in the New York City public schools; yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. Celebrated when it was commissioned by the WPA/FAP in 1935, during the 1960s the fresco became a target of student unrest. In fact, it remained misunderstood by the majority of students in the year 2000.

In order to successfully conserve this mural, it had to be recontextualized. Funded by the Open Society Institute and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Conservation in Context encompassed three components: conservation of the 1930s fresco, an investigation of the mural and the New Deal, resulting in this web site, and the creation of a new mural with students in response to the 1930s image.

Michele Cohen
Public Art for Public Schools

Thomas Thurston
New Deal Network