Event · Central Harlem
At Harlem Hospital in NYC, Restored WPA Murals by Alston and Hayes and Rhoden's "The Family"
NYC Health + Hospitals announced on October 14 that conservation is complete on three Depression-era murals by Charles Alston and Vertis Hayes inside Harlem Hospital's Mural Pavilion, plus John Rhoden's bronze The Family above the entrance at 506 Lenox Avenue.
By NBT Editors · 2026-10-16
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NYC Health + Hospitals' Arts in Medicine department announced on October 14, 2026 that conservation is finished on several of the most significant works by Black artists in its collection: three Depression-era murals made under the Federal Art Project, and John Rhoden's bronze sculpture The Family, which stands above the entrance to Harlem Hospital at 506 Lenox Avenue.
The murals hang in the Mural Pavilion inside the hospital. Made under the Works Progress Administration's New Deal programs, they date from a moment when Black artists fought for, and won, access to major public commissions. Charles Alston, the first African American supervisor in the Federal Art Project, painted two companion works, Magic in Medicine (1940) and Modern Medicine (1940). They set traditional healing practices from different cultures beside modern medical science and show a racially integrated hospital staff. Vertis Hayes's Pursuit of Happiness (1937) covers 800 square feet across eight panels and traces African American history from ancestral African villages to professional and cultural achievement in the twentieth century.
Hyperallergic reported that when the designs were submitted in 1936, administrators objected that they contained too much Black subject matter. Larissa Trinder, who leads Arts in Medicine, told the magazine that artists protested publicly and the hospital commissioner then reversed the decision.
Rhoden's The Family (1969) stands 22 feet high. It shows a family held aloft by hands that seem to extend from the building itself, supported by the Rod of Asclepius. It is one of three sculptures Rhoden made for the health system between 1966 and 1970, alongside Mitochondria at Bellevue and Monumental Abstraction at Metropolitan Hospital. Tatti Conservation worked on it in spring 2026, aiming to harmonize the surface tones while keeping the underlying patina of green, brown and black. Foreground Conservation & Decorative Arts restored the murals on site over two weeks. The work was supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies' 2025 funding of the department.
The works can also be viewed in the Arts in Medicine guide on Bloomberg Connects.
