Archer, Robert P. (b. 1905) The Checkerboard Cloth

Art

The New Deal Museum

Name/Title

Archer, Robert P. (b. 1905) "The Checkerboard Cloth"

Entry/Object ID

2025.900.FA18112

Description

Not rendered with perfectly accurate optics, Archer’s still life nevertheless is a creative study in perspective and visual planes. Upon a table covered by the eponymous checkboard-patterned cloth, a crystal decanter and copper teapot sit incongruously next to each other. They are doubled in a mirror, complicated by its beveled edge and angled walls “behind” our point of view; viewer and painter alike have been effaced from the reflections.

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil

Collection

Mt. Morris TB Hospital FAP Collection

Made/Created

Artist

Archer, Rorbert P.

Date made

1935 - 1940

Dimensions

Height

21 in

Width

18 in

Condition

Overall Condition

Very Poor

Date Examined

Jul 19, 2025

Notes

3 cracks lower right corner, 9 chips lower middle center/lower left middle/upper left middle/lower corners, 6 scratches right edges throughout, 5 holes middle lower right corner/lower middle left corner, fading/wooded canvas frame pressing through, upper middle left

Recommendations

needs cleaning requires repairs for tears, chipped paint, chipped frame

Provenance

Provenance Detail

Created under the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (1930s–1940s), this collection of easel paintings was originally installed at the Mount Morris Tuberculosis Sanitorium in Livingston County, New York. Following the sanitorium’s closure in 1970, the artworks were abandoned and remained in storage until their rediscovery decades later. Now preserved and exhibited by the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts (GVCA), the collection is housed at the New Deal Museum in Mount Morris. Current efforts include digitization, high-resolution photography, and the creation of an online archive to ensure long-term public access and research availability.

General Notes

Note Type

Cataloging Note

Note

See the entry titled 'New Deal Collection Documents' for supporting documents, and general historic and research information.