New Deal Art Programs: When US Government Funded Artists as Essential Workers
From 1933 to 1943, the US government regarded art as a communal asset through various New Deal initiatives. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), which launched in December 1933, employed 3,700 artists who produced more than 15,000 pieces. Between 1934 and 1943, the Section of Painting and Sculpture commissioned 850 artists to create 1,400 artworks for federal buildings. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, artists were acknowledged as laborers. In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) initiated Federal One, which included the Federal Art Project (FAP) led by Holger Cahill, offering artists a weekly wage of $24. Prominent figures like Willem de Kooning, Alice Neel, and Grant Wood participated. However, the programs faced criticism from the House Un-American Activities Committee and were terminated in 1943.
Key facts
- Federal art programs operated from 1933 to 1943 during the New Deal era
- The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) hired 3,700 artists who created over 15,000 works
- The Section of Painting and Sculpture commissioned 850 artists for 1,400 artworks in federal buildings
- Artists received $24 weekly through WPA programs
- Over 1,000 post offices still display Section murals today
- Community art centers served tens of millions with free classes and exhibitions
- The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) accused programs of being Communist fronts
- The Works Progress Administration dissolved in 1943 as World War II began
Entities
Artists
- Moses Soyer
- Willem de Kooning
- Philip Guston
- Lee Krasner
- Jacob Lawrence
- Alice Neel
- Louise Nevelson
- Isamu Noguchi
- Jackson Pollock
- Mark Rothko
- Thomas Zipp
- Josh Kline
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- George Biddle
- Diego Rivera
- Grant Wood
- Aaron Douglas
- Paul Cadmus
- Edward Bruce
- John Trumbull
- William Gropper
- Joe Jones
- Edward Laning
- Ethel V. Ashton
- Allan Houser
- Woody Crumbo
- Harry Hopkins
- Holger Cahill
- John Dewey
- Stuart Davis
- Arshile Gorky
- Cesare Stea
- Josephine Joy
- Pedro Cervantes
- Patrociño Barela
- William Edmondson
- Dox Thrash
- Chet La More
- Elizabeth Olds
- Lester Beall
- Dorothea Lange
- Walker Evans
- James Agee
- Arthur Rothstein
- Jorena Pettway
- Robert Blackburn
- Mabel Dwight
- Meyer Schapiro
- Barbara Rose
Institutions
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Public Works of Art Project
- Section of Painting and Sculpture
- Works Progress Administration
- Federal One
- Federal Art Project
- Federal Music Project
- Federal Theatre Project
- Federal Writers' Project
- Iowa State University
- University Museums, Iowa State University
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
- New York Public Library
- Daily Worker
- Department of the Interior
- Farm Security Administration
- Rural Electrification Administration
- Index of American Design
- Milwaukee Handicraft Project
- Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences
- Design Laboratory
- Harlem Community Art Center
- South Side Community Art Center
- Harlem Artists Guild
- Artists' Union
- House Un-American Activities Committee
- Bureau of Fine Arts
- Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Universal Images Group
- Getty Images
Locations
- United States
- Mexico
- Harvard
- Iowa
- Iowa State University
- Ames
- Harlem
- New York
- San Francisco
- Washington, D.C.
- Kentucky
- Wyoming County
- Tunkhannock
- Pennsylvania
- Jim Crow South
- West
- Department of the Interior headquarters
- Brooklyn
- Newark Airport
- Bowery Bay
- San Diego
- New Mexico
- Tennessee
- Nashville
- Philadelphia
- Northern California
- Gee's Bend
- Boykin
- Alabama
- Milwaukee
- Rochester
- Mount Hood
- Oregon
- Chicago
- Germany
- Italy
- Soviet Union