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.”
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. The project created more than 200,000 separate works, some of them remaining among the most significant pieces of public art in the country.
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. 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, 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).
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.Atkins, Robert (1993). ArtSpoke: A Guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1848-1944. Abbeville Press. .
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. 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." Workers were taught bookbinding, block printing, and design, which they used to create handmade art books and children's books. They produced toys, dolls, theatre costumes, quilts, rugs, draperies, wall hangings, and furniture that were purchased by schools, hospitals, and municipal organizations for the cost of materials only. 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.
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; George Godfrey Thorp (Illinois),Smithsonian. Archives of American Art. George Godfrey Thorp papers, 1941–1970 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.
Notable artists
Some 10,000 artists were commissioned to work for the Federal Art Project. Notable artists include the following:
William Abbenseth Berenice Abbott Ida York Abelman Gertrude Abercrombie Benjamin Abramowitz Abe Ajay Ivan Albright Maxine Albro Charles Alston Harold Ambellan Luis Arenal Bruce Ariss Victor Arnautoff Sheva Ausubel Jozef Bakos Henry Bannarn Belle Baranceanu Patrociño Barela Will Barnet Richmond Barthé Herbert Bayer William Baziotes Lester Beall Harrison Begay Daisy Maud BellisEdward Alden Jewell (August 27, 1933). "“Musings Way Down east,” New York Times" Rainey Bennett Aaron Berkman Leon Bibel Robert Blackburn Arnold Blanch Lucile Blanch Lucienne Bloch Aaron Bohrod Ilya Bolotowsky Adele Brandeis Louise Brann Edgar Britton Manuel Bromberg James Brooks Selma Burke Letterio Calapai Samuel Cashwan Giorgio Cavallon Daniel Celentano Dane Chanase Fay Chong Claude Clark Max Arthur Cohn Eldzier Cortor Arthur Covey Alfred D. Crimi Francis Criss Allan Crite Robert Cronbach John Steuart Curry Philip Campbell Curtis James Daugherty Stuart Davis Adolf Dehn Willem de Kooning Joseph De Martini Burgoyne Diller Isami Doi Mabel Dwight Ruth Egri Fritz Eichenberg Jacob Elshin George Pearse Ennis Angna Enters Philip Evergood Louis Ferstadt Alexander Finta Joseph Fleck Seymour Fogel Lily Furedi George Michael Gaethke Todros Geller Aaron Gelman Eugenie Gershoy Enrico Glicenstein Vincent Glinsky Bertram Goodman Arshile Gorky Harry Gottlieb Blanche Grambs Morris Graves Balcomb Greene Marion Greenwood Waylande Gregory Philip Guston Irving Guyer Abraham Harriton Marsden Hartley Knute Heldner August Henkel Ralf Henricksen Magnus Colcord Heurlin Hilaire Hiler Louis Hirshman Donal Hord Axel Horn Milton Horn Allan Houser Eitaro Ishigaki Edwin Boyd Johnson Sargent Claude Johnson Tom Loftin Johnson William H. Johnson Leonard D. Jungwirth Reuben Kadish Sheffield Kagy Jacob Kainen David Karfunkle Leon Kelly Paul Kelpe Troy Kinney Georgina Klitgaard Gene Kloss Karl Knaths Edwin B. Knutesen Lee Krasner Kalman Kubinyi Yasuo Kuniyoshi Jacob Lawrence Edward Laning Michael Lantz Blanche Lazzell Tom Lea Lawrence Lebduska Joseph Leboit William Robinson Leigh Julian E. Levi Jack Levine Monty Lewis Elba Lightfoot Abraham Lishinsky Michael Loew Thomas Gaetano LoMedico Louis Lozowick Nan Lurie Guy Maccoy Stanton Macdonald-Wright George McNeil Moissaye Marans David Margolis Kyra Markham Jack Markow Mercedes Matter Jan Matulka Dina Melicov Hugh Mesibov Katherine Milhous Jo Mora Helmuth Naumer Louise Nevelson James Michael Newell Spencer Baird Nichols Elizabeth Olds John Opper William C. Palmer Phillip Pavia Irene Rice Pereira Jackson Pollock George Post Gregorio Prestopino Mac Raboy Anton Refregier Ad Reinhardt Misha Reznikoff Mischa Richter Diego Rivera José de Rivera Emanuel Glicen Romano Mark Rothko Alexander Rummler Augusta Savage Concetta Scaravaglione Louis Schanker Edwin Scheier Mary Scheier Carl Schmitt William S. Schwartz Georgette Seabrooke Ben Shahn Henrietta Shore William Howard Shuster Mitchell Siporin John French Sloan Joseph Solman William Sommer Isaac Soyer Moses Soyer Raphael Soyer Ralph Stackpole Cesare Stea Walter Steinhart Joseph Stella Harry Sternberg Sakari Suzuki Albert Swinden Rufino Tamayo Elizabeth Terrell Lenore Thomas Dox Thrash Mark Tobey Harry Everett Townsend Edward Buk Ulreich Charles Umlauf Jacques Van Aalten Stuyvesant Van Veen Herman Volz Mark Voris John Augustus Walker Andrew Winter Jean Xceron Edgar Yaeger Bernard Zakheim Karl Zerbe
Community Art Center program
The first federally sponsored community art center opened in December 1936 in Raleigh, North Carolina.