1. New Deal Art
During the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s and into the early years of World War II, the Federal government supported the arts in unprecedented ways. For 11 years, between 1933 and 1943, federal tax dollars employed artists, musicians, actors, writers, photographers, and dancers. Never before or since has our government so extensively sponsored the arts.
Source:

2. Why did the government support the Arts?
Arts projects provided work for jobless artists.
A larger mission: to promote American art and culture and to give more Americans access to what President Franklin Roosevelt described as "an abundant life."
The projects saved thousands of artists from poverty enabled Americans to see an original painting for the first time, attend their first professional live theater, or take their first music or drawing class.
Controversy and WWII ended government support for the Arts.

3. What were common themes?
New Deal art displays important cultural and historical themes that give us a window into a period of great change and controversy in America.
Rediscovering America
Celebrating “the People”
Work Pays America
Activist Arts
Useful Arts

4. Rediscovering America
History of Southern Illinois By Paul Kelpe, Illinois Federal Art Project, WPA, ca Gouache

5. Fishermen's Village By Edmund Lewandowski, Wisconsin Federal Art Project, WPA, 1937 Watercolor and gouache over pencil

6. "Church in shacktown community
"Church in shacktown community. It is used by different sects, including Pentecostal. The curtains are made of flour sacks Near Modesto, Stanislaus County, California, May 10, 1940" By Dorothea Lange, Bureau of Agricultural Economics

7. Jane Addams Memorial By Mitchell Siporin, Illinois Federal Art Project, WPA, 1936 Tempera on paper

8. Celebrating “the People”
Michigan artist Alfred Castagne sketching WPA construction workers By an unknown photographer, May 19, 1939

9. The Riveter By Ben Shahn, Treasury Section of Fine Arts, 1938 Tempera on paperboard

10. Waiting for the Mail By Grant Wright Christian, Treasury Relief Art Project, 1937 38 Oil on canvas

11. In the Dugout By Paul Clemens, Wisconsin Federal Art Project, WPA, 1938 Oil on masonite

12. Work Pays America
Painting depicting the activities of the National Youth Administration By Alden Krider, Kansas National Youth Administration, 1936, Oil on canvas

13. "C.C.C. A Young Man's Opportunity for Work Play Study & Health" By Albert Bender, Chicago Federal Art Project, WPA, ca Silkscreen
Years of Dust By Ben Shahn, Resettlement Administration, 1937, Photolithograph

14. Electrification By David Stone Martin, Treasury Section of Fine Arts, 1940 Tempera on cardboard

15. Activist Arts
Lest We Forget By Ben Shahn, Resettlement Administration, 1937 Gouache and watercolor in bound volume

16. "Children in a democracy
"Children in a democracy. A migratory family living in a trailer in an open field. No sanitation, no water. They come from Amarillo, Texas." By Dorothea Lange, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, November 1940

17. From the "One-Third of a Nation" series, New York City By Arnold Eagle and David Robbins, New York City Federal Art Project, May to August 1938

18. Mine Rescue By Fletcher Martin, Treasury Section of Fine Arts, 1939 Tempera on panel