I am a photographer hired by a
democratic government to take pictures of its land and its
people. The idea is to show New York to Texans and Texas
to New York. --Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration
photographer, U.S. Camera One, 1941.
Artistic nationalism was a prominent aspect
of much New Deal art.MORE...
American Scenes
In the visual arts, the creation of the federal
arts projects coincided with the popularity of the movement
known as the "American Scene." MORE...
Fishermen's
Village By Edmund Lewandowski, Wisconsin Federal
Art Project, WPA, 1937 Watercolor and gouache over pencil
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Library, National Archives and Records Administration (MO 56-332)
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National
Archives and Records Administration (MO 56-331)
(Select image to see full size panoramic--94kb JPEG)
Though much of Paul Kelpe's art tended
toward the abstract, his mural for the Southern Illinois University
Library followed the prevailing American Scene style. This work
describing the history of industry, agriculture, and commerce
in southern Illinois is typical of many New Deal murals. The
mural looks back to a supposedly simpler time when pioneers
triumphed over adversity and built the nation through hard work,
community, and strength of character. The results of all this
industry--the growing fields, the commerce on the river, the
school, even the children--are offered as proof that progress
and community were achieved despite frontier conditions.
Untitled
Winter Scene By Ceil Rosenberg, Public Works of Art
Project, 1934
Oil on canvas
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National
Archives and Records Administration
(MO 69-62)
Most
American Scene paintings were idealized portrayals of small-town
life, but some depicted urban scenes. Ceil Rosenberg's untitled
Chicago street scene was typical of American Scene artists who
worked in an urban environment. The Public Works of Art Project
(PWAP), for which Rosenberg worked, discouraged art that was
abstract, controversial, or swayed by foreign influences. Edward
Rowan, who was an Assistant Director of the project, argued
that while government artists should be given "the utmost freedom
of expression," the PWAP should "check up very carefully on
the subject matter of each project. . . . Any artist who paints
a nude for the Public Works of Art Project should have his head
examined."
Indian
Village By Julius Twohy, Washington Federal Art
Project, WPA, ca. 1935-39
Lithograph
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National
Archives and Records Administration
(MO 56-327)
Native American
artists, such as Julius Twohy, were employed by the WPA Arts
Project in large numbers, and several post office murals were
done by Indian artists or used Native American themes. In 1935
the Interior Department created the Indian Arts and Crafts Board,
which promoted the development of markets for Native American
arts and crafts through craft cooperatives and set standards
for the art that would be sold in them.
National Archives, Records of the
Bureau of Agricultural Economics
(83-G-41382)
New Deal photographers skillfully
recorded the American scene in great detail. Some caught the
hard times and poverty of the Depression, but many others captured
more benign and commonplace aspects of American life, including
views of newsstands and streets, bus stations and roadside rests,
churches and movie houses. The best New Deal photographers moved
beyond simply recording, celebrating, or criticizing contemporary
life and created visual documents that subtly explored the complex
changes in 20th-century America.
