User:Buster7/Post office mural artists

New Deal Agency edit

This is kind of just a holding place for easy access to often used references and/or links


Treasury Section of Fine Arts

FACT
2566 total murals

Potential Scripts edit

  • His 1939 mural The British Come to See Monty Python, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, is currently in storage at the Low Countries Museum of Art

for towns edit

  • A post office called ________ has been in operation since 1881. United States Postal History [1]

Quality sentences edit

  • _____ was an American artist and a member of the _________ artists colony. She painted murals for the WPA Fine Arts Section during the Great Depression.
  • Her work is featured in MOMA in NYNY and AIC in CHGO.
  • She received honorary degrees fron CCAC and AIC.
  • She was awarded the highest recognition for graphic design, the AIGA medal in 2004
  • In 1939, one of __________'s paintings was selected to appear at the _____________________Gallery and in 1942 she installed a commissioned piece for the WPA in the post office in Anywhere, Oklahoma. The work, entitled "What a Wonderful Day" depicted a shining sun and was an oil on canvas installation. (Olga Mohr)


often used references edit

  • Marlene Park and Gerald Markowitz, Democratic Vistas, Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1984, pp. 96, 141, 147, 207, 210-211, 215-216, 232.


[5] Engendering Culture: Manhood and Womanhood in New Deal Public Art and Theater. Smithsonian

[6] The New Deal for Artists

[7] The New Deal Art Projects : An Anthology of Memoirs

[8] When Art Worked : The New Deal, Art, and Democracy

[9] Wall-to-Wall America : A Cultural History of Post Office Murals in the Great Depression

[10] A Guide to Depression Era Art in Illinois Post Offices

[11] Minnesota: A State Guide

[12] Democratic vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, Temple U

[13] Geographical Dictionary Of Murals and Sculptures commissioned by Section of Fine Arts

[14] Indiana Post Office Murals

[15] Tennessee Post Office Murals

[16] Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers

[17] Who’s Who in American Art 1938-1939” vol.2,

[18] Dictionary of Women Artists

[19] Hispanic Artists of the New Deal University of New Mexico

[20] Art for the People:The Rediscovery and Preservation of Progressive and WPA-Era Murals in the Chicago Public Schools

[21] A Guide to Chicago’s Murals, University of Chicago Press

[22] Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture

[23] The New Deal in the Southwest: Arizona and New Mexico, The University of Arizona

[24] The University of Chicago Biographical Sketches, The University of Chicago

[25] American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present

[26] Contemporary Women Artists

[27] The Biographical Directory of Native American Artists Olga Mohr

Brief History of the WPA edit

Source:A Google Book

  • In 1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Civil Works Administration.
  • From December 1933 to June 1934 funding went to the Public Works of Art Project.
  • Its successor, in existence from 1935 to 1943, was termed The Federal Art Project of the Works Progress (later called Projects) Administration (WPA).
  • From 1934 to 1938 the Treasury-based project was called The Section of Painting and Sculpture and, from 1938 to 1939, The Section of Fine Arts.
  • From 1939 to 1943, the program was called The Section of Fine Arts of the Public Buildings Administration of the Federal Works Agency.

Endangered Murals Registry edit

About CHGO murals edit

Gale Virtual Reference Library:Works Progress Administration 1935-1943 edit

"Works Progress Administration 1935-1943." Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. Ed. Richard C. Hanes and Sharon M. Hanes. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2002. 306-324. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 12 May 2016.

After his inauguration in March 1933, President FDR initiated work relief programs that culminated in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935. The Works Progress Administration was designed to get the unemployed off of the relief (welfare) rolls by providing work, at minimal pay, until they could find work in the private sector. Some of the WPA projects targeted  unemployed artists, musicians, writers and actors. The cultural work relief programs promoted authentically American art. The resulting artwork was sometimes wonderful, often bad, and occasionally very critical of America, capitalism, and the government. It was this aspect of the work relief programs that provided fodder for critics and ultimately led to the program's demise.
In November 1933 Roosevelt set-up the Civil Works Administration (CWA) to provide temporary jobs to a few million of the unemployed. It put four million people to work within four weeks. Also in 1933, Roosevelt created the Public Works Administration (PWA) under the direction of Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes. The PWA was an ambitious program that employed workers to construct thousands of new public facilities all across the country including more than five hundred municipal water systems, almost three hundred hospitals, and more than five hundred schools. With the introduction of the Works Progress Administration in 1935, the PWA and the WPA were constantly battling for funding until the PWA was disbanded in 1939. FDR created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 to take over some responsibilities of the FERA, the PWA, and the CWA. Like the others the WPA was created to provide work relief for the unemployed. It was the largest public works program ever attempted — in the number of people employed, in money expended, and in volume of results.
Roosevelt appointed Harry Hopkins, a social worker with years of experience directing relief and work relief programs, to lead the WPA. Wages were intentionally kept significantly below positions in the private sector, even tho private sector jobs were unavailable. The WPA wrestled with how to make the jobs sufficiently attractive to boost the morale of the unemployed workers, without making them so attractive that the workers would prefer them to private employment. Low wages were one way that the WPA jobs were made less attractive.
By 1936 the Federal Art Project (FAP) employed more than six thousand artists with about half involved in the direct creation of art. They created more than 40,000 paintings and 1,100 murals. The best known and most lasting of the works of art created under FAP were the murals painted in public buildings across the nation. The FAP murals represented a renewed interest in American life. Victor Arnautoff's "City Life" in San Francisco's Coit Tower is one of the best examples... subjects were often pro-labor...and, as a result. accusations of "communism" grew toward the end of the 1930s. Many artists employed by the Federal Art Project would later become famous: Jackson Pollack, Willem De Kooning, Anton Refregier, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi to name a few. 
The WPA provided work relief for millions of people during the Great Depression. It took an innovative approach to include cultural expression into its employment program. In doing so the WPA quickly came under attack from conservatives in Congress.
Southern states did poorly at employing women in the WPA, especially black American women. Part of this had to do with segregation requirements. Black and white men could work together on outdoor projects. But the women's projects, which were indoors, had to be entirely segregated, making them more costly to run. In addition many Southerners objected to employment programs that would compete with domestic services for black American women. They wanted black American women to be available to work as maids and cooks in white people's homes for low wages.
The WPA helped many Americans to develop and cement their views about work relief. FDR believed accepting relief without working for it undermines the self-esteem of the recipient. Many of the buildings and highways and other projects built by the men of the WPA are still part of the American landscape. Much of the art, especially the many murals from the Federal Art Project, are still adorning public buildings around the United States.

Source edit

WPA MURALS edit

References edit

  1. ^ Rediscovering the People's Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission: 2014.
  2. ^ a b University of Central Arkansas. "Arkansas Post Office Murals".
  3. ^ Park, Marlene and Gerald E. Markowitz, Democratic vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, Temple University Press, Philadelphia 1984
  4. ^ American Art Annual, Geographical Dictionary Of Murals and Sculptures commissioned by Section of Fine Arts, Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency. The American Federation of Arts, 1941 pp 623 - 658
  5. ^ Melosh, Barbara (1991). Engendering Culture: Manhood and Womanhood in New Deal Public Art and Theater. Smithsonian Institute Press. ISBN 9780874747218. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ McKenzie, Richard (1972). The New Deal for Artists (first ed.). Boston, MA: Princeton University Press. pp. 13 to 33. ISBN 9780691046136. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. ^ O'Connor, Francis V. (1972). The New Deal Art Projects : An Anthology of Memoirs (First ed.). Smithsonian Institute Press. pp. 22 to 222. ISBN 9780874741131. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  8. ^ Kennedy, Roger G. (2009). When Art Worked : The New Deal, Art, and Democracy (First ed.). New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.. pp. 33 to 333. ISBN 9780847830893. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  9. ^ Marling, Karal A. (1982). Wall-to-Wall America : A Cultural History of Post Office Murals in the Great Depression (First ed.). University of Minnesota Press. pp. 272 to 276. ISBN 0816611165.
  10. ^ Thompson, Mary Emma (2005). A Guide to Depression Era Art in Illinois Post Offices (Revised ed.). Self published. pp. 1 to 22. ISBN 9780977028603.
  11. ^ Federal Writers of the WPA (1947). Minnesota: A State Guide (Second ed.). Hastings House. ISBN 0403021731.
  12. ^ Park, Marlene and Gerald E. Markowitz, Democratic vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, Temple University Press, Philadelphia 1984
  13. ^ American Art Annual, Geographical Dictionary Of Murals and Sculptures commissioned by Section of Fine Arts, Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency. The American Federation of Arts, 1941 pp 623 - 658
  14. ^ Carlisle, John C., “A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals”, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1995
  15. ^ Hull, Howard, Tennessee Post Office Murals, The Overmountain Press, Jiohnson City Tennessee, 1996
  16. ^ Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986
  17. ^ McGlauflin, ed., ‘’Who’s Who in American Art 1938-1939” vol.2, The American Federation of Arts,Washington D.C., 1937
  18. ^ Petteys, Chris, “Dictionary of Women Artists: An international dictionary of women ratites born before 1900”, G.K. Hall & Co., Boston, 1985
  19. ^ Nunn, Tey Marianna, Sin Nombre:Hispana & Hispani Artists of the New Deal University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 2001
  20. ^ Becker, Heather, Art for the People:The Rediscovery and Preservation of Progressive and WPA-Era Murals in the Chicago Public Schools, 1904-1843
  21. ^ Gray, Mary Lackritz, A Guide to Chicago’s Murals, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001
  22. ^ Flynn, Kathryn A., Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture , Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico 1995
  23. ^ Berningham, Peter, The New Deal in the Southwest: Arizona and New Mexico, The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson
  24. ^ Wakefield Goodspeed, Thomas, The University of Chicago Biographical Sketches, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1922
  25. ^ Rubinstein, Charlotte Streifer, American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present, G.K. Hall and Co., Boston, Massachusetts, 1982
  26. ^ Hillstrom, Laurie & Kevin, Contemporary Women Artists, Saint James Press, Farmington Mills, Michigan, 1999
  27. ^ Lester, Patrick D., The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters, SIR Publications, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 9780806199369, 701 pages, First edition, 1995

Categories edit

  • Category:American muralists
  • Category:People of the New Deal arts projects
  • Category:20th-century American painters
  • Category:American women painters
  • Category:Modern painters
  • Category:American painters
  • Category:20th-century American painters
Also, it is often worth looking at these sorts on categories:
  • Category:Pratt Institute alumni
  • Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
  • Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
  • Category:Artists from New Mexico
  • Category:Artists from New York
  • Category:American women illustrators
  • Category:American etchers
  • Category:American women printmakers

New Deal Artwork edit

Most of the Post Office works of art were funded through commissions under the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (later known as The Section of Fine Arts) and not the WPA.

“Often mistaken for WPA art, post office murals were actually executed by artists working for the Section of Fine Arts. Commonly known as “the Section,” it was established in 1934 and administered by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. Headed by Edward Bruce, a former lawyer, businessman, and artist, the Section’s main function was to select art of high quality to decorate public buildings if the funding was available. By providing decoration in public buildings, the art was made accessible to all people.” from “Articles from EnRoute : Off The Wall: New Deal Post Office Murals” by Patricia Raynor.[1]

Post Office Murals depicting Indians edit

This section moved to List of Native American themed murals, Any additions should be added there.

Women edit

Please see User:Buster7/The List - Women Artists for a working list to create articles for Women muralists

Men edit

Please see User:Buster7/The List - Men Artists for a working list to create articles for Men muralists

References edit

  1. ^ "Florida WPA Art". WPAmurals.com. Retrieved 16 December 2014.