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The Role of Federal Art Programs in 1930s America: A Struggle for Artistic Expression

In the 1930s, federal art programs like the FAP/WPA emerged amidst economic hardship, providing support for artists while promoting "distinctly American" art. Many artists leaned left, forming unions and advocating for the working class through initiatives like the Artists’ Union and Art Front journal. Programs such as the Public Works of Art Project funded thousands of artists, encouraging local themes in their work while imposing restrictions on subjects like nudity and poverty. Influenced by thinkers like John Dewey, these programs sought to make art accessible to all Americans.

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The Role of Federal Art Programs in 1930s America: A Struggle for Artistic Expression

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  1. Painting – 1930s • Federal Programs for the Arts • Funding of art in post offices, schools and court houses • Artists – tend to lean left, support working class • John Reed Clubs • Artists’ Union (1934) • Art Front – Artists’ Union journal (1934-1937) • Some see cause as class struggle against capitalism • Some push for unions, not socialism • Most want federal art programs

  2. Public Works of Art Project (PWAP - 1933) – Treasury Dept. • Replaced by Section of Painting and Sculpture in the Treasury Dept. (1934) • Joins (1935) with Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) and the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FAP/WPA) is created • As of 1935 – Treasury Section and FAP/WPA • FAP/WPA – from 1935-1943, employs 1000s of artists – painters, sculptors • Holger Cahill, director • Influenced by John Dewey • Art for all Americans, art “distinctly American” • Artists received weekly wage (3-5,000 employed) • Preference for representational, narrative art

  3. Treasury Section (not a relief organization – TRAP is) • Edward Bruce, director • Artists compete for work in federal buildings • Work approved ahead of time and monitored • Funds most murals, though FAP/WPA funds some • Spent $2.5 million, created 1,100 murals, 300 sculptures • Face greater restrictions • Given themes – local history, local industries, local flora and fauna, local pursuits, hunting and fishing, recreational activities • Nudity and poverty prohibited, slavery largely excluded • Native Americans often depicted • Realism not stipulated, but expected • Regionalism/Social Realism

  4. Farm Security Administration (first called Resettlement Administration) • Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, etc. • Mexican Muralists • Jose Orozco, David Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera • Many murals throughout US address concerns of many US intellectuals and artists in early 30s

  5. Rivera, Detroit Industry (South – 1932-1933)

  6. Philip Evergood (1901-1973) • President of Artists’ Union, works in FAP • Powerful depictions of struggles between workers and industrialists

  7. Evergood, American Tragedy (1937)

  8. Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) • Parks, the Circus, the Klan, the Press (1933) • The Social History of the State of Missouri (1936) • Documentary • Log on Virgo • For your search, type “Thomas Hart Benton” • Click on the web url for entry #2, “Thomas Hart Benton Electronic Resource” • You will see “Choose from a list” – scroll down and select “University of Virginia” • This should bring you to the documentary

  9. John Steuart Curry (1897-1946) • Tragic Prelude(1940)

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