NPR’s Weekend Edition looked into the display of forgotten Ansel Adams murals installed at the Department of the Interior:
Behind the imposing facades of Washington, D.C.’s many federal buildings are some hidden gems of art. A new exhibit on the walls of the Interior Department features a series of photographs taken by Ansel Adams. The murals were commissioned at the last century but never before display. NPR’s Brian Naylor reports.
BRIAN NAYLOR: First, a bit of the back story. The Department of the Interior’s headquarters was built in 1936 during the Roosevelt administration. FDR’s Interior secretary was his close adviser Harold Ickes, who stipulated that one percent of the funds used for the building be devoted to art.
Enter Ansel Adams. He was already well regarded for his now iconic black-and-white landscapes of the American West and Southwest.
