User:Buster7/Post office mural artists

New Deal Agency

 * 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
 * Progrssive and New Deal Art

Potential Scripts

 * Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department. The murals were intended to boost the morale of the American people from the effects of the Depression by depicting uplifting subjects. Murals were commissioned through competitions open to all artists in the United States. Almost 850 artists were commissioned to paint 1371 murals, most of which were installed in post offices, libraries, and other public buildings. 162 of the artists were women. The murals were funded as a part of the cost of the construction with 1% of the cost set aside for artistic enhancements.
 * _____________ was an artist with the Federal Art Project and painted post office murals in Somewhere and Anywhere in Idaho and Overthere in Montana as well as six at the United States Post Office in Everywhere, Virginia.


 * In 1939 name of artist painted a WPA commissioned mural titled Be Happy. Don't Worry. in the United States post office in Anytown, USA.


 * The United States post office in Anytown, USA contains a WPA commissioned mural titled Robins on the Roof and painted in 1939 by name of artist.


 * Her work includes the oil on canvas mural titled The First Jazz Orchestra in the EWorld in the Manheim, Pennsylvania post office, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, and completed in 1938.


 * 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


 * In 1940 (name of artist) was commissioned by the Treasury's Section of Painting and Sculpture to paint a post office mural, Arrival of Prince into Heaven, in his hometown of Anytown, USA.

for towns

 * A post office called ________ has been in operation since 1881. United States Postal History

Quality sentences

 * _____ 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

 * 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.

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

The New Deal for Artists

The New Deal Art Projects : An Anthology of Memoirs

When Art Worked : The New Deal, Art, and Democracy

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

A Guide to Depression Era Art in Illinois Post Offices

Minnesota: A State Guide

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

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

Indiana Post Office Murals

Tennessee Post Office Murals

Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers

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

Dictionary of Women Artists

Hispanic Artists of the New Deal University of New Mexico

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

A Guide to Chicago’s Murals, University of Chicago Press

Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture

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

The University of Chicago Biographical Sketches, The University of Chicago

American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present

Contemporary Women Artists

The Biographical Directory of Native American Artists Olga Mohr

Brief History of the WPA
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

 * Temple University

About CHGO murals

 * "Art for the People' by Heather Becker
 * Public Building Commission of CHGO
 * The Depression Era Art Project
 * New York Times obit article
 * Ray Bradbury cover
 * Publication listing
 * The dustjacket art is by Arthur Lidov ....
 * Life magazine, 1962, The Human Body:part two, "Down a Long Canal", December 7th, 1962
 * Art Institute of CHGO, 2 illustrations
 * Christopher School mural and Chilli mural
 * Mark Rothko's Death

Gale Virtual Reference Library:Works Progress Administration 1935-1943
"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.

WPA MURALS

 * http://www.wpamurals.com/


 * Watonga, Oklahoma post office mural

Categories

 * 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
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.

Post Office Murals depicting Indians

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

Women

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

Men

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