Artists at Work
On May 6, 1935, with the nation still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression and with World War Two brewing across the Atlantic Ocean, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration as part of the Second New Deal. It would prove to be an economic boost to America. However, even more, it would prove a boon to America’s art, artists and the country’s very perception of itself.
Intended to give – and ultimately successful at giving – work to millions of Americans, it also gave work to thousands of struggling artists, across all disciplines. This unleashed a wave of creative honesty that writ large across billboards, buildings, silos, post offices and any government building you could see. Americans began to see themselves, their beliefs and their
