San Diego’s New Deal Renaissance: An Artist’s Experience
2023 marks the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the New Deal and Belle Baranceanu’s arrival in San Diego. Baranceanu was an economic refugee from Chicago who had fled the city in the depths of the Depression seeking a fresh start in California. This exhibition, using the art of Belle Baranceanu, traces her experience as an artist working for all of the federal government’s art projects and demonstrates that the New Deal, a series of far-reaching and groundbreaking programs, not only put millions of Americans back to work, but also created a vibrant artistic renaissance in San Diego and the rest of America.
