March 15, 1938: Competition Press Release
$10,000 in 1939 was equal to $167,500 in 2013. (source: AIER cost of living calculator).
The Competition and the Winner
Receiving the Check
The price of $10,000 being presented to Harry Poole Camden, of Parkersburg, West Virginia, as winner of the nation-wide contest for sculpture to adorn the United States Government Building at the New Yourk World's Fair 1939.
The winning statue, "Unity", is shown in the photograph, between Mr. Camden, (left), and Mr. Hayes.
The prize is being presented to Mr. Camden by Theodore T. Hayes, Executive Assistant Commissioner of the U.S. commission to the Fair.
Harry Looking at "Unity"
The Submissions are Reviewed
Images above are: 1654156, 1654155, 1654154, and 1654153
from the New York Public Library.
The Winner is Harry Poole Camden, Jr.
Winner of the $10,000 prize for sculputre to embellish the dorways of the United States Government Building at the New York World's Fair 1939, and the design "Unity" which brought him success. Harry Poole Camden of Parkersburg, West Virginia, third from the left, with members of the jury which awarded him the prize following the judging of 430 designa submitted to the jurymen in the Hall of Communication of the New York Fair. In the photograph, left to righ: max Dunning, U.S. Treasury Department, engineer to the United States Commission to the Fair: Howard F. Cheney, archtect to the Federal Building, member of the jury; Mr. Camden, and Theodore T. Hayes, Executive Assistant Commissioner of the U.S. Commission, also a juror.
Congratulations Harry
The Statues
The dominating Federal Building, costing $940,000, consists of two towers 150 feet high joined by a central section, whose entrance colonnade represents the original thirteen states. Huge sculptures adorn the facades of the Tower of judiciary and the Tower of Legislature, while many murals and other sculptures are placed within the tow halls, where priceless historical documents are displayed. Art work was executed by winners in nation-wide contests. Harry Poole Camden received the $10,000 prize for the two sculptures decorating the towers. Peace, on the Tower of Legislature, has a female figure lifting a cloak with her right hand to shield three smaller figures – man, woman and child- representing the average American family. The other sculpture is Unity. Runner-up in this competition was Louis Slobodkin, whose figure of Lincoln also symbolizes unity; it is displayed within the building.
New York City: Vol 1, New York City Guide By Federal Writers' Project Published by US History Publishers
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