Basil Hawkins
American, 1903 - 1982Portrait of a Man, ca. 1935-37
Not on view
Oil on board
Dimensions9 15/16 × 8 7/8 in. (25.2 × 22.5 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson in Memory of Mr. Robert Martin Purcell, 1979.63
Born in 1903 in Vincennes, Indiana, Basil Hawkins studied with Jaroslav Brozik at the Flint Institute of Arts and eventually taught in the museum school. In 1934 he was part of the Federal Arts Projects (FAP) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA/FAP was one of the many art projects that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal administration initiated during the Great Depression in the 1930s that provided employment to the nation’s artists. The WPA/FAP easel division was the largest single employer of artists. These artists created tens of thousands of works, many of which were allocated to publicly supported institutions such as libraries, schools, and museums. Hawkins painted murals for the Flint Public Library, Hurley Hospital, and for the Flint public schools.
