Name/Title
Yaghjian, Edmund (1903-1997) "Small Town, NY"Entry/Object ID
2025.900.FA18374Tags
Oil PaintingDescription
Although a train platform in the foreground bears the name “Small Town,” the frame of Yaghjian’s painting had referenced Beacon, NY before getting crossed out in favor of this more universal theme. We are invited to ascend a wooden stairway into a quaint town whose buildings are arrayed upon its hillside: a brick commercial building near the tracks, a church and more ornate homes higher up. Warm earthtones and green foliage predominate. Small traces of the forces that would transform such towns lurk at the corners of the painting, like telephone wires or an automobile at lower right.Collection
Mt. Morris TB Hospital FAP CollectionDimensions
Height
23-1/2 inWidth
29-1/2 inCondition
Overall Condition
PoorDate Examined
Aug 2, 2025Provenance
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 NoteNote
See the entry titled 'New Deal Collection Documents' for supporting documents, and general historic and research information.
