We were all very ardent New Dealers
and when we found [New Deal policies] reflected in the art
programs we were even more enthusiastic. -- Edward Biberman, New Deal artist
Most New Deal artists were grateful to
President Roosevelt for giving them work and enthusiastically
supported the New Deal's liberal agenda. MORE...
National Archives,
Records of the Work Projects Administration
(69-TS-737-923-106)
A musical review, Sing for
Your Supper, poked fun at the Federal Theatre and at politicians
as well as satirized contemporary events. In the "leaning on
a shovel" skit, WPA workers musically disputed charges that
work relief promoted lazy workers who were paid for "shovel
leaning." In one stanza they sang:
When you look at things today
Like Boulder Dam and TVA
And all those playgrounds where kids can play
We did it--by leaning on a shovel!
Prints and Photographs Division, Library
of Congress
(B WPA Ill.B46 1)
Created
in 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employed jobless
young men on work projects such as planting trees, stocking
lakes and rivers, and building shelters, trails, and campgrounds.
It had a close relationship with many of the federal art projects.
Federal Theatre troupes entertained at CCC camps, and Federal
Art Project workers gave drawing classes. Several government
artists created works with CCC themes. Sometimes, as in this
poster by Albert Bender and in the photograph by Wilfred Mead
that follows it, they extolled the benefits of CCC discipline,
food, medical care, and education.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National
Archives and Records Administration
(44-107-1)
The
National Youth Administration (NYA) provided jobs for young
adults, especially college students, many of whom found themselves
without work, direction, or hope. In 1936, Alden Krider, an
NYA artist, painted the story of the NYA for an exhibit at the
Kansas State Fair. The painting's shadowy background represents
some of the problems and temptations faced by young people during
the Depression: crime, poverty, gambling, and homelessness.
In the foreground, Krider shows the various types of beneficial
employment provided by the NYA. President Roosevelt's words
establishing the NYA in 1935 are also prominently displayed.
"Years
of Dust"
By Ben Shahn, Resettlement Administration, 1937
Photolithograph
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National
Archives and Records Administration
(MO 90-10)
Beginning
in the early 1930s, parts of the United States experienced a
severe drought that brought huge dust storms to parts of the
Midwest and southern plains. These storms financially destroyed
many farmers. New Dealers created the Resettlement Administration
in 1935 to attack the rural poverty that had grown out of the
Depression and dust storms. It provided impoverished farmers
with equipment, low-cost loans, and education about soil conservation.
In his 1937 poster "Years of Dust," Ben Shahn contrasted an
image of an impoverished pre-New Deal farmer trapped by years
of drought with a listing of the Resettlement Administration's
bold actions.
National Archives, Records of the Work Projects
Administration
(69-TP-160)
"Living
Newspapers," a Federal Theatre Project innovation, were plays
that used newspaper and other documentary sources to dramatize
contemporary social and political issues. After President Roosevelt
declared in a speech that "one-third of a nation" was "ill-housed,
ill-clad, ill-nourished," the FTP seized on the phrase for the
title of a "Living Newspaper" about housing. One-Third of
a Nation's realistic portrayal of urban slum conditions
(including sets designed from actual tenements) made it a hit,
but when it endorsed specific housing legislation and used quotes
from Congressmen opposed to public housing, several Senators
attacked the play.
Electrification By David Stone Martin, Treasury Section
of Fine Arts, 1940
Tempera on cardboard
Fine Arts Collection, General Services Administration
(FA4703)
In the early 1930s, 9 out of
10 American farms had no electricity. One of the New Deal's
major achievements was bringing electrical power to rural
parts of the country, and this success was most vividly demonstrated
in the Tennessee River Valley. Through the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), the federal government built a series of
huge hydroelectric dams to provide power to the countryside.
Artist David Stone Martin memorialized this accomplishment
in his mural for the post office in Lenoir, TN.
National Archives, Records of the Office
of the Secretary of Agriculture
(16-G-112-2-S-3522A)
When
power companies refused to run lines into rural America, claiming
it was too expensive, the New Deal's Rural Electrification Administration
sponsored cooperatives that received low-cost government loans
for developing electric power. Photographer Peter Sakaer artfully
documented one co-op in Louisiana bathed in the light it had
brought to the region.
