Category: Reima V. Ratti

Exhibit: Life and Art in the Great Depression by Reima V. Ratti

Ratti’s love of art guided his life and would lead him on a path to history.

Civilian Conservation Corps Art on Exhibit update:
Because of the current 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the Dunn Museum is closed and all events associated with the current Reima Ratti: Life and Art in the Great Depression exhibit have been cancelled.

It is no exaggeration that exhibits highlighting pieces from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Art Program are exceedingly rare and it is unfortunate that this exhibit, the story and discovery of this New Deal story and CCC art can not continue.

Originally scheduled for January 25-April 12, 2020, was a special exhibition focusing on the life of CCC artist, Reima V. Ratti  at the Bess Bower Dunn Museum in Libertyville, Illinois.

The exhibit featured the Art , letters, photographs and other treasures created during the Great Depression and during Reima Ratti’s enrollment in the three “C’s”. In addition to a small statuette that inspired a brass monument.  Calendar events that were to include tours, family activities and an Author Talk have been cancelled.

The story can still be told and discovered in the book by Kathleen Duxbury:
CCC ART – Reima Victor Ratti – Artists of the Civilian Conservation Corps available through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Dunn Museum, Ingram and other online booksellers.

Museum Closed 3/19/202presentation cancelled
CCC ART – Reima V. Ratti 3/19/2020, Dunn Museum presentation cancelled

 

CCC Art – Reima Victor Ratti


CCC ART – Reima Victor Ratti – Artists of the Civilian Conservation Corps is now available at:  B&N, Amazon and soon will be available at the Bess Bower Dunn Museum.

DRILLERS by Reima Ratti 1936

This is a story of a young, New Deal artist with a romantic name, Reima Ratti. Born in Waukegan, Illinois in 1914, he was like so many young boys of his generation. Young men who came of age during the  jobless years of the Great Depression. Ratti joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a regular enrollee  to help himself and his family. As a trained, but untried artist, he brought along his sketchpad, pencils and brushes. What transpired, during his CCC artist days and beyond, would set him on a path to history.

“I have heard much about the CCC artists and the fine work they have done. I would very much like to be a CCC artist myself.” Reima Ratti 1936   

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