39. (Times Square, Columbus Circle, Union Square)

One Wednesday afternoon in the fall of 1938, eight artists set up their easels at New York City’s busiest intersections and began to paint posters intended to publicize a campaign to fund a relief ship to Spain whose government is battling a fascist coup. Working in pairs, the artists position themselves at the statue of Father Duffy in Times Square, outside the New York Times building, at Columbus Circle and in Union Square. The following evening the finished poster-paintings are exhibited at the Hotel St. Moritz where a benefit dinner is being held. Shortly afterwards, a ship bound for Spain sets sail from New York harbor with 27,300 bags of flour, among other desperately needed supplies.

(A. Birnbaum, Fred Ellis, Philip Evergood, William Gropper, John Groth, Sidney Hoff, Rockwell Kent, Soriano)