Yes, West Virginia, There Is A James Johnson Sweeney

Say "West Virginia" and many people think of moonshining and coal mining, relief checks and bare feet. To erase this doleful public image, the West Virginia Centennial Commission decided to do something real cultural to celebrate the state's 100th anniversary: hold an art contest and give a prize of $1,963 for the painting that would best show what West Virginia is really like.

What West Virginia is really like turned out to be six beat-up boards and the wreck of a screen door frame, with a man and a moon scrawled on them. So thought Joe F. Moss, 30, University of West Virginia art instructor, who constructed West Virginia Moon, and James Johnson Sweeney, director of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, who judged the competition.

Cried the scandalized Huntington Herald-Advertiser: "Tourism may have been dealt a body blow." Sidestepped Governor William W. Barron: "I'd better let the experts comment on it." Commented Expert Sweeney: "I picked what I liked best." Philosophized Painter-Carpenter Moss: "It isn't anything intended to be uncomplimentary. It looks complimentary, maybe."

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