Link to
Midwest-
NNDPA
Link to
Midwest-
NNDPA
New Deal Art During the Great Depression
On May 6, 1935, the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was created to help provide economic relief to the citizens of the United States who were suffering through the Great Depression. The artistic community had already become inspired during the 1920s and '30s by the revitalization of the Italian Renaissance fresco style by the inspired creations of Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueriros. Certain visionary U.S. politicians decided to combine the creativity of the new art movements with the values of the American people. The Federal Art Project was one of the divisions of the W.P.A. created under Federal Project One. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had made several attempts prior to the F.A.P. to provide employment for artists on relief, namely the Public Works of Art Project (P.W.A.P.) which operated from 1933 to 1934 and the Treasury Department Section of Painting and Sculpture which was created in 1934 after the demise of the P.W.A.P. However, it was the F.A.P. which provided the widest reach, creating over 5,000 jobs for artists and producing over 225,000 works of art for the American people.
It is this legacy of the thousands of workers who labored at their craft for little money but great pride which we have to inspire us today. Although many of these works of art have been destroyed or stolen, those that remain must be preserved. They stand as a reminder of a time in our country’s history when dreams were not allowed to be destroyed by economic disaster.
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Off The Wall - New Deal Post Office Murals by Patricia Raynor - 26.6 kb pdf file
Who is in charge of the legacy of the WPA Federal Art Project?
The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 transferred all functions of the Federal Works Agency, including works of art produced under the various art projects of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to the General Services Administration (GSA).
The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. §471 et seq.) provides General Services Administration (GSA) with the authority to procure and supply real and personal property and non-personal services, and transferred all functions of the Federal Works Agency, including artwork from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to the GSA.
Who is in charge of the Post Office art?
The USPS maintains ownership and control over the use of the Post Office art images. They have a page that gives information about use (commercial and non-commercial) of Post Office artwork images at:
New
Deal Art: Murals and Sculptures
http://www.usps.com/rightsandpermissions/new-deal-art.htm
The phrase recommended to use when publishing US{S images as posted on this site is:
Used with the permission of the United States Postal Service®. All rights reserved.
If your project constitutes a non-commercial academic use of these images, you should look at their page on Fair Use Exceptions at http://www.usps.com/rightsandpermissions/fair-use-exceptions.htm - apparently prior permission or a licensing agreement is not required if your project qualifies as a Fair Use exception ("Generally, no prior permission is required for Educational Use - Noncommercial, educational uses limited to teaching, scholarship, and research. ")
Art in Danger!
Hurricane Katrina update: The Museum of Mobile, Alabama (home of the WPA murals by John Augustus Walker) had severe flooding during Katrina but reopened on March 1. http://www.archives.state.al.us/mobile/mobile1.html
The Jane Addams Homes, Chicago, IL - The Viviano/Miller statues, "Animal Court" - updated photos (1.41 MB powerpoint)
Cook County Hospital, Chicago, IL - slated for demolition
The Modesto, CA Post Office is being closed - the fate of the murals by Ray Boynton is uncertain.
If you have information about WPA/New Deal art in danger
of being destroyed, please let me know and I'll post it.
Current
Exhibits!
Likewise, if you have information about a current or future
exhibit, please email me so that I can include this on my exhibits page.
Plus, I am always looking for information or personal stories about WPA
art or the Federal Art Project, so please e-mail me if you want to include
your stories on this site. Any help in researching this exciting time in
history will be much appreciated.
"The New Deal Store" - I don't sell anything on this site, but this page has information about places to find hard-to-find books, videos, etc. about the New Deal art programs. (example: Post Masters: Arkansas Post Office Art in the New Deal by John Purifoy Gill)
Information on how to get a copy of "WPA Artwork in Non-Federal Repositories, Edition II," from the General Services Administration (free) is on the New Deal Store page.
Please note that the information on this site is NOT meant to be comprehensive. The information about New Deal art projects that I post is only the beginning of the research necessary to describe and document this exciting part of our history. Please feel free to send me information, additional websites, your email address for posting, etc. I enjoy adding items from other people and organizations!
How much is your art worth?
I do not do art appraisals, but the site, www.findartinfo.com, will provide free auction records and maintains a art sale price database.
Other sites that have done free artwork appraisals are Jacksons Auctions (http://jacksonsauction.com/) and James J. Rieser Fine Art (http://www.rieserfineart.com/free_evaluation.htm). There is also a print resource, "Davenport's Art Reference & Price Guide" (usually in the reference section, call #707.5), that is a great reference for sale prices of artwork.
Anyone interested in identifying an artist's signature, I have a signature research page with some suggestions. Additions to this page will be much appreciated!
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E-mail Nancy
Last Updated 8/6/07
© 2006 Nancy Lorance
All Rights Reserved.