Federal Art Project
New Deal relief program to fund the visual arts

Federal Art Project
Eagle and palette design regarded as the logo of the Federal Art Project
Agency overview
Formed29 August 1935 (1935-08-29)
Dissolved1943 (1943)
JurisdictionUnited States
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Agency executive
Parent departmentWorks Progress Administration (WPA)

The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and the largest of the New Deal art projects. It was created not as a cultural activity, but as a relief measure to employ artists and artisans to create murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photography, theatre scenic design, and arts and crafts. The WPA Federal Art Project established more than 100 community art centers throughout the country, researched and documented American design, commissioned a significant body of public art without restriction to content or subject matter, and sustained some 10,000 artists and craft workers during the Great Depression. According to American Heritage, “Something like 400,000 easel paintings, murals, prints, posters, and renderings were produced by WPA artists during the eight years of the project’s existence, virtually free of government pressure to control subject matter, interpretation, or style.”[1]

Background

The Federal Art Project was the visual arts arm of Federal Project Number One, a program of the Works Progress Administration, which was intended to provide employment for struggling artists during the Great Depression. Funded under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, it operated from August 29, 1935, until June 30, 1943. It was created as a relief measure to employ artists and artisans to create murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photographs, Index of American Design documentation, museum and theatre scenic design, and arts and crafts. The Federal Art Project operated community art centers throughout the country where craft workers and artists worked, exhibited, and educated others.[3] The project created more than 200,000 separate works, some of them remaining among the most significant pieces of public art in the country.[4]

The Federal Art Project's primary goals were to employ out-of-work artists and to provide art for nonfederal municipal buildings and public spaces. Artists were paid $23.60 a week; tax-supported institutions such as schools, hospitals, and public buildings paid only for materials.[5] The work was divided into art production, art instruction, and art research. The primary output of the art-research group was the Index of American Design, a mammoth and comprehensive study of American material culture.

As many as 10,000 artists were commissioned to produce work for the WPA Federal Art Project,[6] the largest of the New Deal art projects. Three comparable but distinctly separate New Deal art projects were administered by the United States Department of the Treasury: the Public Works of Art Project (1933–1934), the Section of Painting and Sculpture (1934–1943), and the Treasury Relief Art Project (1935–1938).[7]

The WPA program made no distinction between representational and nonrepresentational art. Abstraction had not yet gained favor in the 1930s and 1940s, so was virtually unsalable. As a result, the Federal Art Project supported such iconic artists as Jackson Pollock before their work could earn them income.[8]

One particular success was the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, which started in 1935 as an experiment that employed 900 people who were classified as unemployable due to their age or disability.[2]: 164  The project came to employ about 5,000 unskilled workers, many of them women and the long-term unemployed. Historian John Gurda observed that the city's unemployment hovered at 40% in 1933. "In that year," he said, "53 percent of Milwaukee's property taxes went unpaid because people just could not afford to make the tax payments."[9] Workers were taught bookbinding, block printing, and design, which they used to create handmade art books and children's books. They produced toys, dolls,[10] theatre costumes, quilts,[9] rugs, draperies, wall hangings, and furniture that were purchased by schools, hospitals,[2]: 164  and municipal organizations[11] for the cost of materials only.[12] In 2014, when the Museum of Wisconsin Art mounted an exhibition of items created by the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, furniture from it was still being used at the Milwaukee Public Library.[9]

Holger Cahill was national director of the Federal Art Project. Other administrators included Audrey McMahon, director of the New York Region (New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia); Clement B. Haupers, director for Minnesota;[13] George Godfrey Thorp (Illinois),[14] and Robert Bruce Inverarity, director for Washington. Regional New York supervisors of the Federal Art Project have included sculptor William Ehrich (1897–1960) of the Buffalo Unit (1938–1939), project director of the Buffalo Zoo expansion.[15]

Notable artists

Some 10,000 artists were commissioned to work for the Federal Art Project.[6] Notable artists include the following:

Community Art Center program

The first federally sponsored community art center opened in December 1936 in Raleigh, North Carolina.[157]

State City Name Notes
Alabama Birmingham Extension art gallery[4]: 441 
Alabama Birmingham Healey School Art Gallery [4]: 441 
Alabama Mobile Mobile Art Center, Public Library Building [4]: 441 
Arizona Phoenix Phoenix Art Center [4]: 441 
District of Columbia Washington, D.C. Children's Art Gallery [4]: 441 
Florida Bradenton Bradenton Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Coral Gables Coral Gables Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 441 
Florida Daytona Beach Daytona Beach Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Jacksonville Jacksonville Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Jacksonville Jacksonville Beach Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 441 
Florida Jacksonville Jacksonville Negro Art Center Extension art gallery[4]: 441 [158]
Florida Key West Key West Community Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Miami Miami Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Milton Milton Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 441 
Florida New Smyrna Beach New Smyrna Beach Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Ocala Ocala Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida Pensacola Pensacola Art Center [4]: 441 
Florida St. Petersburg Jordan Park Negro Exhibition Center [4]: 441 
Florida St. Petersburg St. Petersburg Art Center [4]: 442 
Florida St. Petersburg St. Petersburg Civic Exhibition Center [4]: 442 
Florida Tampa Tampa Art Center [4]: 442 
Florida Tampa West Tampa Negro Art Gallery [4]: 442 
Illinois Chicago Hyde Park Art Center [4]: 442 
Illinois Chicago South Side Community Art Center [4]: 442 
Iowa Mason City Mason City Art Center [4]: 442 
Iowa Ottumwa Ottumwa Art Center [4]: 442 
Iowa Sioux City Sioux City Art Center [4]: 442 
Kansas Topeka Topeka Art Center [4]: 442 
Minnesota Minneapolis Walker Art Center [4]: 442 [159]
Mississippi Greenville Delta Art Center [4]: 442 
Mississippi Oxford Oxford Art Center [4]: 442 [160]
Mississippi Sunflower Sunflower County Art Center [4]: 442 
Missouri St. Louis The People's Art Center [4]: 442 
Montana Butte Butte Art Center [4]: 442 
Montana Great Falls Great Falls Art Center [4]: 442 
New Mexico Gallup Gallup Art Center [4]: 443 [35]
New Mexico Melrose Melrose Art Center [4]: 443 
New Mexico Roswell Roswell Museum and Art Center [4]: 443 
New York City Brooklyn Brooklyn Community Art Center [4]: 443 
New York City Manhattan Contemporary Art Center [4]: 443 [161]
New York City Harlem Harlem Community Art Center [4]: 443 
New York City Flushing, Queens Queensboro Community Art Center [4]: 443 
North Carolina Cary Cary Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
North Carolina Greensboro Greensboro Art Center [157]
North Carolina Greenville Greenville Art Gallery [4]: 443 
North Carolina Raleigh Crosby-Garfield School Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
North Carolina Raleigh Needham B. Broughton High School Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
North Carolina Raleigh Raleigh Art Center [4]: 444 
North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington Art Center [4]: 443 
Oklahoma Bristow Bristow Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Claremore Claremore Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Claremore Will Rogers Public Library Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Clinton Clinton Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Cushing Cushing Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Edmond Edmond Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Marlow Marlow Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Oklahoma City Oklahoma Art Center [4]: 443 
Oklahoma Okmulgee Okmulgee Art Center Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Sapulpa Sapulpa Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Shawnee Shawnee Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oklahoma Skiatook Skiatook Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 443 
Oregon Gold Beach Curry County Art Center [4]: 444 
Oregon La Grande Grande Ronde Valley Art Center [4]: 444 
Oregon Salem Salem Art Center [4]: 444 
Pennsylvania Somerset Somerset Art Center [4]: 444 
Tennessee Chattanooga Hamilton County Art Center [4]: 444 
Tennessee Memphis LeMoyne Art Center [4]: 444 
Tennessee Nashville Peabody Art Center [4]: 444 
Tennessee Norris Anderson County Art Center [4]: 444 
Utah Cedar City Cedar City Art Exhibition Association Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Utah Helper Helper Community Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Utah Price Price Community Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Utah Provo Provo Community Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Utah Salt Lake City Utah State Art Center [4]: 444 
Virginia Altavista Altavista Extension Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Virginia Big Stone Gap Big Stone Gap Art Gallery [4]: 444 
Virginia Lynchburg Lynchburg Art Gallery [4]: 444 
Virginia Richmond Children's Art Gallery [4]: 444 
Virginia Saluda Middlesex County Museum Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Washington Chehalis Lewis County Exhibition Center Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Washington Pullman Washington State College Extension art gallery[4]: 444 
Washington Spokane Spokane Art Center [4]: 444 [162]
West Virginia Morgantown Morgantown Art Center [4]: 445 
West Virginia Parkersburg Parkersburg Art Center [4]: 445 
West Virginia Scotts Run Scotts Run Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Casper Casper Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Lander Lander Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Laramie Laramie Art Center [4]: 445 
Wyoming Newcastle Lander Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Rawlins Rawlins Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Riverton Riverton Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Rock Springs Rock Springs Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Sheridan Sheridan Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 
Wyoming Torrington Torrington Art Gallery Extension art gallery[4]: 445 

Index of American Design

Federal Art Project Illinois poster for an exhibition of the Index of American Design

As we study the drawings of the Index of American Design we realize that the hands that made the first two hundred years of this country's material culture expressed something more than untutored creative instinct and the rude vigor of a frontier civilization. … The Index, in bringing together thousands of particulars from various sections of the country, tells the story of American hand skills and traces intelligible patterns within that story.

— Holger Cahill, national director of the Federal Art Project[163]: xv 

The Index of American Design program of the Federal Art Project produced a pictorial survey of the crafts and decorative arts of the United States from the early colonial period to 1900. Artists working for the Index produced nearly 18,000 meticulously faithful watercolor drawings,[2]: 226  documenting material culture by largely anonymous artisans.[163]: ix  Objects surveyed ranged from furniture, silver, glass, stoneware and textiles to tavern signs, ships's figureheads, cigar-store figures, carousel horses, toys, tools and weather vanes.[2]: 224 [164] Photography was used only to a limited degree since artists could more accurately and effectively present the form, character, color and texture of the objects. The best drawings approach the work of such 19th-century trompe-l'œil painters as William Harnett; lesser works represent the process of artists who were given employment and expert training.[163]: xiv 

"It was not a nostalgic or antiquarian enterprise," wrote historian Roger G. Kennedy. "It was initiated by modernists dedicated to abstract design, hoping to influence industrial design — thus in many ways it parallelled the founding philosophy of the Museum of Modern Art in New York."[2]: 224 

Holger Cahill, national director of the Federal Art Project, speaking at the Harlem Community Art Center (October 24, 1938)

Like all WPA programs, the Index had the primary purpose of providing employment.[165] Its function was to identify and record material of historical significance that had not been studied and was in danger of being lost. Its aim was to gather together these pictorial records into a body of material that would form the basis for organic development of American design — a usable American past accessible to artists, designers, manufacturers, museums, libraries and schools. The United States had no single comprehensive collection of authenticated historical native design comparable to those available to scholars, artists and industrial designers in Europe.[166]

"In one sense the Index is a kind of archaeology," wrote Holger Cahill. "It helps to correct a bias which has tended to relegate the work of the craftsman and the folk artist to the subconscious of our history where it can be recovered only by digging. In the past we have lost whole sequences out of their story, and have all but forgotten the unique contribution of hand skills in our culture."[163]: xv 

The Index of American Design operated in 34 states and the District of Columbia from 1935 to 1942. It was founded by Romana Javitz, head of the Picture Collection of the New York Public Library, and textile designer Ruth Reeves.[2]: 224  Reeves was appointed the first national coordinator; she was succeeded by C. Adolph Glassgold (1936) and Benjamin Knotts (1940). Constance Rourke was national editor.[163]: xii  The work is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.[167]

The Index employed an average of 300 artists during its six years in operation.[163]: xiv  One artist was Magnus S. Fossum, a longtime farmer who was compelled by the Depression to move from the Midwest to Florida. After he lost his left hand in an accident in 1934, he produced watercolor renderings for the Index, using magnifiers and drafting instruments for accuracy and precision. Fossum eventually received an insurance settlement that made it possible for him to buy another farm and leave the Federal Art Project.[2]: 228 

In her essay,'Picturing a Usable Past,' Virginia Tuttle Clayton, curator of the 2002-2003 exhibition, Drawing on America's Past: Folk Art, Modernism, and the Index of American Design, held at the National Gallery of Art noted that "the Index of American Design was the result of an ambitious and creative effort to furnish for the visual arts a usable past."[168]

  • Panel from reredos at the Church of Sanctuario at Chimayo
    Panel from reredos at the Church of Sanctuario at Chimayo
  • Fly Catcher, 1937. Frank McEntee. National Gallery of Art
    Fly Catcher, 1937. Frank McEntee. National Gallery of Art
  • Magnus Fossum copying the 1770 Boston Town Coverlet (February 1940)
    Magnus Fossum copying the 1770 Boston Town Coverlet (February 1940)
  • Boston Town Coverlet Magnus Fossum (1935–1942)
    Boston Town Coverlet
    Magnus Fossum (1935–1942)
  • Poke Bonnet,Irene Lawson. Index of American Design. National Gallery of Art
    Poke Bonnet,Irene Lawson. Index of American Design. National Gallery of Art
  • Daguerreotype Case Index of American Design
    Daguerreotype Case Index of American Design
  • "Age of Chivalry" Circus Wagon, c. 1938
    "Age of Chivalry" Circus Wagon, c. 1938
  • Noah's Ark with animals
    Noah's Ark with animals

Poster Division

WPA poster advertising art classes for children

The WPA Poster Division was headed by Richard Floethe.[169] The WPA Poster Division is thought to have produced upward of 35,000 designs and printed some two million posters, originally by hand but quickly transitioning to widespread adoption of the silkscreen process.[170][169] The Poster Division began in New York City and by 1938 had artists in 18 states; the Chicago unit was the second-most productive after New York.[169] According to preeminent New Deal art historian Francis V. O’Connor, only about 2,000 surviving examples of WPA poster art are held in the nation’s library and museum print collections.[169]

WPA Art Recovery Project

External videos
video icon Returning America’s Art to America, General Services Administration[171]

Hundreds of thousands of artworks were commissioned under the Federal Art Project.[6] Many of the portable works have been lost, abandoned, or given away as unauthorized gifts. As custodian of the work, which remains federal property, the General Services Administration (GSA) maintains an inventory[172] and works with the FBI and art community to identify and recover WPA art.[173] In 2010, it produced a 22-minute documentary about the WPA Art Recovery Project, "Returning America’s Art to America", narrated by Charles Osgood.[174]

In July 2014, the GSA estimated that only 20,000 of the portable works have been located to date.[172][175] In 2015, GSA investigators found 122 Federal Art Project paintings in California libraries, where most had been stored and forgotten.[176]

See also

References

  1. ^ Laning, Edward (October 1, 1970). "When Uncle Sam Played Patron of the Arts: Memoirs of a WPA Painter". American Heritage. 21 (6). Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Kennedy, Roger G.; Larkin, David (2009). When Art Worked: The New Deal, Art, and Democracy. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8478-3089-3.
  3. ^ "Employment and Activities poster for the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1936". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq Kalfatovic, Martin R. (1994). The New Deal Fine Arts Projects: A Bibliography, 1933–1992. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2749-2. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c Brenner, Anita (April 10, 1938). "America Creates American Murals". The New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e Naylor, Brian (April 16, 2014). "New Deal Treasure: Government Searches For Long-Lost Art". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  7. ^ "New Deal Artwork: GSA's Inventory Project". General Services Administration. Archived from the original on July 20, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  8. ^ Atkins, Robert (1993). ArtSpoke: A Guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1848-1944. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-1-55859-388-6.
  9. ^ a b c Whaley, K. P. (April 30, 2014). "Depression-Era Milwaukee Handicraft Project Put Thousands of People to Work". The Kathleen Dunn Show. Wisconsin Public Radio. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  10. ^ "WPA – Milwaukee Handicraft Project". Museum of Wisconsin Art. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  11. ^ Roosevelt, Eleanor (November 13, 1936). "My Day". Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project. The George Washington University. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  12. ^ "WPA Milwaukee Handicraft Project". School of Continuing Education, Employment and Training Institute. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  13. ^ "WPA Art Project". Library. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  14. ^ Smithsonian. Archives of American Art. George Godfrey Thorp papers, 1941–1970
  15. ^ Ehrich, Nancy and Roger. "William Ernst Ehrich Biography". Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  16. ^ "Oral history interview with William Abbenseth". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. November 23, 1964. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  17. ^ "Background". Changing New York. New York Public Library. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  18. ^ "Gertrude Abercrombie papers". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  19. ^ "The Artist and His Life". The Artwork of Benjamin Abramowitz (1917–2011). S.A. Rosenbaum & Associates. Archived from the original on August 12, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  20. ^ "Abe Ajay, Industry". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  21. ^ "Oral history interview with Maxine Albro and Parker Hall". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. July 27, 1964. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  22. ^ "Oral history interview with Charles Henry Alston". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. September 28, 1965. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  23. ^ a b "The Artists of Buffalo's Willert Park Courts Sculptures". Western New York Heritage Press. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  24. ^ "Luis Arenal". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. August 7, 1936. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  25. ^ "Pacific Grove High School Mural – Pacific Grove CA". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  26. ^ "George Washington High School: Arnautoff Mural – San Francisco CA". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  27. ^ "Sheva Ausubel". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. March 30, 1937. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  28. ^ "Oral history interview with Jozef and Teresa Bakos, 1965". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  29. ^ "Henry W. Bannarn, ca. 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  30. ^ "Belle Baranceanu (1902-1988)". San Diego History Center. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  31. ^ "Oral history interview with Patrociño Barela". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. July 2, 1964. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  32. ^ "Will Barnet, Labor". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  33. ^ "Richmond Barthe, 1941 Apr. 4". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  34. ^ "William and Ethel Baziotes papers, 1916–1992". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  35. ^ a b c d e f "WPA Art Collection – Gallup NM". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  36. ^ Edward Alden Jewell (August 27, 1933). "“Musings Way Down east,” New York Times"
  37. ^ "Bellis, Daisy Maud". Connecticut State Library. August 27, 1933. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  38. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al Cahill, Holger (1936). Barr, Alfred H. Jr. (ed.). New Horizons in American Art. New York: Museum of Modern Art. OCLC 501632161.
  39. ^ Abbott, Leala (December 2004). "Arts and Culture, Art Center records 1930–2004, Finding Aid". Milstein/Rosenthal Center for Media & Technology. 92nd Street Y. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  40. ^ "Leon Bibel: Art, Activism, and the WPA". Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature. University of Richmond. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  41. ^ "Lucile Blanch, 1940 Oct. 31". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  42. ^ "1939 World's Fair Mural Study – Chicago IL". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  43. ^ a b c d "Williamsburg Housing Development Murals – Brooklyn NY". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  44. ^ "Oral history interview with Adele Brandeis". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. June 1, 1965. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  45. ^ "Louise Brann, ca. 1935". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  46. ^ "Manuel Bromberg, 1939 Jan. 23". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  47. ^ "Oral history interview with James Brooks". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. June 10–12, 1965. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  48. ^ a b "Bailey, Chief Librarian, Praises WPA Art Project". Long Island Sunday Press. Long Island, New York. April 5, 1936.
  49. ^ "Selma Burke". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  50. ^ "Letterio Calapai, ca. 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  51. ^ "Oral history interview with Giorgio Cavallon, 1974". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  52. ^ "P.S. 150 Mural – Queens NY". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  53. ^ "Dane Chanase, 1942 Jan. 26". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  54. ^ a b c d Mahoney, Eleanor (2012). "The Federal Art Project in Washington State". The Great Depression in Washington State. Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights Project, University of Washington. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  55. ^ "Claude Clark Sr., In the Groove". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  56. ^ "Max Arthur Cohn". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  57. ^ a b "Recovering America's Art for America". General Services Administration. 2010. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  58. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Artists". WPA Art Inventory Project. Connecticut State Library. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  59. ^ "Artist: Alfred D. Crimi". The Living New Deal. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  60. ^ "Francis Criss, 1940 Oct. 29". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  61. ^ "History and Mission". About Us. Phoenix Art Museum. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  62. ^ Conn, Charis (February 15, 2013). "Art in Public: Stuart Davis on Abstract Art and the WPA, 1939". Annotations: The NEH Preservation Project. WNYC. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  63. ^ "Adolf Dehn, 1940 Oct. 29". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  64. ^ "Joseph De Martini in the GSA Fine Arts Collection". U.S. General Services Administration. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  65. ^ "Oral history interview with Burgoyne Diller". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. October 2, 1964. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  66. ^ "Isami Doi, Near Coney Island". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  67. ^ "Ruth Egri, 1937 Apr. 12". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  68. ^ "Fritz Eichenberg, April". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  69. ^ "George Pearse Ennis, ca. 1936". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  70. ^ "Angna Enters, 1940 Nov. 18". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  71. ^ "Louis Ferstadt, 1939 Jan. 25". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  72. ^ "Alexander Finta, 1939 June 14". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  73. ^ "Federal Art Project, Photographic Division collection, circa 1920–1965, bulk 1935–1942". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
  74. ^ Hughes, Edan Milton (1986). Artists in California, 1786-1940. San Francisco, CA: Hughes Publishing Company. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-9616112-0-0 – via Internet Archive.
  75. ^ "Activist Arts". A New Deal for the Arts. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  76. ^ "Eugenie Gershoy, 1938 Mar. 28". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  77. ^ "Enrico Glicenstein, 1940 Sept. 29". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  78. ^ "Vincent Glinsky, 1939 Mar. 8". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  79. ^ "Bertram Goodman, ca. 1939". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  80. ^ "Marion Greenwood, 1940 June 4". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  81. ^ "Waylande Gregory". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. June 2, 1937. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  82. ^ "Irving Guyer, Reading by Lamplight". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  83. ^ "Abraham Harriton, 1938 Aug. 16". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  84. ^ Megraw, Richard (January 10, 2011). "Federal Art Project". KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  85. ^ "August Henkel, ca. 1939". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  86. ^ "Ralf C. Henricksen, 1938". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  87. ^ "Service on the home front There's a job for every Pennsylvanian in these civilian defense efforts". Library of Congress. 1941.
  88. ^ "Stop and get your free fag bag Careless matches aid the Axis". Library of Congress. 1941.
  89. ^ "Donal Hord, 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  90. ^ "Axel Horr [sic], 1940 June 28". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  91. ^ "Milton Horn, c. 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  92. ^ "Eitaro Ishigaki, ca. 1940". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  93. ^ "Sargent Claude Johnson, Dorothy C.". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  94. ^ "Tom Loftin Johnson, 1938". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  95. ^ "William H. Johnson: A Guide for Teachers". American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  96. ^ "Reuben Kadish, Conversation with a Quarry Master". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  97. ^ "Sheffield Kagy, Symphony Conductor". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  98. ^ "Jacob Kainen, Rooming House". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  99. ^ "David Karfunkle, ca. 1938". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  100. ^ "WPA - Works Progress Administration - New Deal Artists | MOWA Online Archive". wisconsinart.org.[permanent dead link]
  101. ^ "Oral history interview with Lee Krasner". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. November 2, 1964 – April 11, 1968. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  102. ^ "Kalman Kubinyi, Skaters". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  103. ^ "Michael Lantz". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  104. ^ "New Mexico State University: Branson Library Art – Las Cruces NM". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  105. ^ "Joseph Leboit, Tranquility". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  106. ^ "Monty Lewis, 1938 May 26". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  107. ^ "Elba Lightfoot, 1938 Jan. 14". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  108. ^ "Murals Approved of 5 WPA Artists". The New York Times. October 28, 1935. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  109. ^ "Thomas Gaetano Lo Medico, 1938 May 12". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  110. ^ "Oral history interview with Guy and Genoi Pettit Maccoy". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. July 24, 1965. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  111. ^ "Federal Art Project Artists, 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  112. ^ "Moissaye Marans, ca. 1939". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  113. ^ "David Margolis, 1940 May 29". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  114. ^ "Jack Markow, Street in Manasquan". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  115. ^ "Mercedes Matter Interview Excerpts". Hans Hofmann: Artist/Teacher, Teacher/Artist. PBS. 2003. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  116. ^ "Dina Melicov, 1939 Apr. 26". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  117. ^ "Hugh Mesibov". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  118. ^ "King City High School Auditorium Bas Reliefs – King City CA". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  119. ^ "Louise Nevelson". Guggenheim Collection Online. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  120. ^ "James Michael Newell, ca. 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  121. ^ "Elizabeth Olds, 1937". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  122. ^ Mary Ann Marger (May 7, 1990). "Thinking in the Abstract Series". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. p. 1D.
  123. ^ "William C. Palmer, 1936". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  124. ^ "Irene Rice Pereira, 1938 Aug. 22". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  125. ^ "Jackson Pollock". Guggenheim Collection Online. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  126. ^ "Mac Raboy, Hitchhiker". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  127. ^ "Oral history interview with Ad Reinhardt". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. 1964. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  128. ^ "City College of San Francisco: Rivera Mural – San Francisco CA". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  129. ^ "Oral history interview with José de Rivera". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. February 24, 1968. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  130. ^ "Emanuel Glicen Romano, 1936 Nov. 23". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  131. ^ "Augusta Savage". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  132. ^ "The Harp by Augusta Savage". 1939 NY World's Fair. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  133. ^ "Oral history interview with Louis Schanker". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. 1963. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  134. ^ a b "Edwin & Mary Scheier". New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. February 12, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  135. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (September 16, 2012). "At Harlem Hospital, Murals Get a New Life". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  136. ^ "Oral history interview with Ben Shahn". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. October 3, 1965. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  137. ^ "Rikers Island WPA Murals – East Elmhurst NY". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  138. ^ "A Gift to the City: The Post Office Murals of Henrietta Shore". Online History Journal. Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Retrieved December 18, 2025.
  139. ^ "Oral history interview with Will Shuster, 1964". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  140. ^ "Lane Tech College Prep High School Auditorium Mural – Chicago IL". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  141. ^ "Oral history interview with Joseph Solman". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  142. ^ "Isaac Soyer, A Nickel a Shine". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  143. ^ "George Washington High School: Stackpole Mural – San Francisco CA". The Living New Deal. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  144. ^ "Cesare Stea, 1939 Mar. 2". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  145. ^ "Sakari Suzuki, 1936 Dec. 2". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  146. ^ Dunlap, David W. (November 5, 2014). "At Future Cornell Campus, the First Step in Restoring Murals Is Finding Them". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  147. ^ "Timeline under Charles Umlauf bio on the UMLAUF Website".[permanent dead link]
  148. ^ "Jacques Van Aalten, 1938 May 26". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  149. ^ "Stuyvesant Van Veen papers, circa 1926-1988". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  150. ^ "Herman Roderick Volz, Lockout". The Collection Online. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  151. ^ "Oral history interview with Mark Voris, 1965 February 11". www.aaa.si.edu.
  152. ^ "Murals by John Augustus Walker on permanent display in the Museum of Mobile lobby, Mobile, Alabama". Library of Congress. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  153. ^ "Jean Xceron, 1942 Jan. 13". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  154. ^ "Edgar L. Yaeger papers, 1923-1989". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  155. ^ "California Federal Art Project papers, 1935-1964". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  156. ^ Nolte, Carl (February 27, 2015). "UCSF to let public see trove of medical history murals". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  157. ^ a b Parker, Thomas C. (October 15, 1938). "Federally Sponsored Community Art Centers". Bulletin of the American Library Association. 32 (11). American Library Association: 807. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  158. ^ "Children drawing at the Jacksonville Negro Art Center of the WPA Federal Art Project- Jacksonville, Florida". Florida Memory. State Library and Archives of Florida. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  159. ^ Rash, John (January 30, 2015). "The Walker's WPA roots are still relevant today". Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  160. ^ Grieve, Victoria (2009). The Federal Art Project and the Creation of Middlebrow Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 145. ISBN 9780252034213.
  161. ^ Abbott, Leala (December 2004). "Arts and Culture, Art Center records 1930–2004, Finding Aid". Milstein/Rosenthal Center for Media & Technology. 92nd Street Y. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2015. In 1935 and 1936, 92Y, in cooperation with the federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) and the New York City Board of Education, began offering free courses … The Contemporary Art Center, part of the W.P.A.'s Federal Art Project, offered daytime courses for serious art students and was led by Nathaniel Dirk.
  162. ^ Mahoney, Eleanor (2012). "The Spokane Arts Center: Bringing Art to the People". The Great Depression in Washington State. Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights Project, University of Washington. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  163. ^ a b c d e f Cahill, Holger (1950). "Introduction". In Christensen, Erwin O. (ed.). The Index of American Design. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. ix–xvii. OCLC 217678.
  164. ^ Herzberg, Max (October 15, 1950). "American Craftsmanship Offers Beauty and Utility". Newark Evening News.
  165. ^ Jones, Louis C. (October 22, 1950). "Only Yesterday It Was Wooden Indians and Whittled Toys". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  166. ^ Jewell, Edward Alden (March 19, 1939). "Saving Our Usable Past". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  167. ^ "History". Index of American Design. National Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  168. ^ Drawing on America's Past: Folk Art, Modernism, and the Index of American Design by Virginia Tuttle Clayton, Elizabeth Stillinger, Erika Doss, and Deborah Chotner. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2002.
  169. ^ a b c d DeNoon, Christopher (1987). Posters of the WPA. Francis V. O'Connor. Los Angeles: Wheatley Press, in association with the University of Washington Press, Seattle. ISBN 0-295-96543-6. OCLC 16558529.
  170. ^ Carter, Ennis (2008). Posters for the people : art of the WPA. Christopher DeNoon, Alexander M. Peltz. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books. ISBN 978-1-59474-292-7. OCLC 227919759.
  171. ^ "Works Progress Administration (WPA) Art Recovery Project". General Services Administration. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  172. ^ a b "New Deal Artwork: GSA's Inventory Project". General Services Administration. Archived from the original on July 20, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  173. ^ "New Deal Artwork: Ownership and Responsibility". General Services Administration. Archived from the original on August 29, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  174. ^ "Works Progress Administration (WPA) Art Recovery Project". Office of the Inspector General, General Services Administration. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  175. ^ MacFarlane, Scott (September 17, 2014). "Lost History: Hunting for WPA Paintings". NBC 4. Washington, D.C. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  176. ^ MacFarlane, Scott (April 20, 2015). "Dozens of Pieces of Lost WPA Art Found in California". NBC 4. Washington, D.C. Retrieved June 13, 2015.

Further reading

  • DeNoon, Christopher. Posters of the WPA (Los Angeles: Wheatley Press, 1987).
  • Grieve, Victoria. The Federal Art Project and the Creation of Middlebrow Culture (2009) excerpt
  • Kennedy, Roger G.; David Larkin (2009). When art worked. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-3089-3.
  • Kelly, Andrew, Kentucky by Design: American Culture, the Decorative Arts and the Federal Art Project's Index of American Design, University Press of Kentucky, 2015, ISBN 978-0-8131-5567-8
  • Russo, Jillian. "The Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project Reconsidered." Visual Resources 34.1-2 (2018): 13-32.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Federal Art Project.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_Art_Project&oldid=1329108952"