McCutcheon - Albert

McCutcheon, Albert B. (1901-1990)

Albert McCutcheon was born in Middletown, Connecticut on January 1, 1901. He attended the Durant School in Middletown. He also took private lessons in art, history, language, and music for four years. He went on to study at the Yale School of Fine Arts, continuing his studies at the Julian Academy in Paris in 1923. He married Hilde Anderson, an artist, in 1924. He studied abroad once again in 1928, and later from 1932 to 1935. For a period of several years McCutcheon worked as a free lance easel painter, mural painter, and interior designer. He was a colonial and ecclesiastical restorer. Prior to the WPA Federal Arts Project, he worked for the Public Works of Art Project. In 1936 he began work for the WPA. McCutcheon completed a series of murals entitled The Epic of Middletown for the Woodrow Wilson High School in Middletown in 1938. He also painted a mural for the Durant School Kindergarten and 15 easel pictures that were allocated to Woodrow Wilson High School, Fort Wright, Undercliff Sanatorium, the Municipal Air Terminus [Brainard Field] in Hartford, and the Hindley School in Darien. His style of painting was described by the WPA officials as “at once modern and individual.” They went on to note that his pictures “unlike many of the modern school, are predominantly gay, airy, and harmonious.” McCutcheon died in 1990 in Middletown.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; “Middletown Man’s Fine Murals Halted by Recent Ruling of WPA Officials,”Hartford Courant, January 3, 1937; “Free Art Gallery At Marlborough Open for Summer,” Hartford Courant, July 27, 1938; “Aviation Board Invites Corrigan To Visit Airport,” Hartford Courant, August 9, 1938; [Obituary], Hartford Courant, April 9, 1990.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Albert McCutcheon:

McCutcheon, Albert