Fast forward 70 years and meet Danielle Abrams, Benoit’s great niece. Even Eleanor Roosevelt, her patron, is unable to locate her. Her Jewish family living in German occupied France can’t contact her, her artist friends who include Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Lee Krasner don’t know where to find her. Alizee is part of the project, and in 1940 she goes missing, never to be heard from again. The WPA wanted to combine the creativity of these artists with the values of the American people. They employed artists (over 10,000) to create art both as a relief effort and to create easel drawings, sculptures, paintings, murals and other artwork for non-federal municipal buildings. Interesting to me was that part of The New Deal and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) was the Federal Art Project. Alizee Benoit is a young artist in the 1940s. Shapiro has just come out with another fabulous art related novel.
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