I had "Ranger of the Lost Art" Doug Leen on today. Very interesting, man, not only for what he's done for the arts, but just as much for what he's done for American history.
He starts out as a park ranger, and even before that, he's in Vietnam Ultimately he gets involved in Kent State after he gets back from the war and meets with Nixon and talked to him about the his opposition for the war.
It's also a story of discovery. You see, Doug finds this poster when he's in his mid-twenties, working as a park ranger. He makes this discovery and then decides that there's more to it and that he needs to figure it out. He keeps this poster his whole life. It goes with him from place to place and finally decides to solve the riddle he stumbled upon all of those years ago.
That's what this podcast is really about. The story of the missing National Parks posters that were done by WPA artists between 1938 and 1941. Doug has a book he just put out about his journey to uncover the missing pieces called "RANGER OF THE LOST ART–REDISCOVERING THE WPA POSTER ART OF OUR NATIONAL PARKS". To learn more about the book and to see various posters he found, visit his website: rangerdoug.com
So anyways, unique, fun, and interesting story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Douglas Leen on episode 286 of Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.