LOOKING INTO OUR PAST: WPA FIGURATIVE PAINTINGS AND PRINTS
The stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression created a dire environment for the American public. Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected as President in 1932, instituted aggressive measures to address the deteriorating American economic situation. His administration introduced a series of relief and reform programs that came to be known as the New Deal. One of the New Deal's most innovative and successful programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), also know as the Federal Project Number One (or Federal One), helped foster a new respect for American heritage at a time when the nation was suffering from a staggering blow to its self confidence. Federal One consisted of four major divisions addressing the major areas of artistic expression: writing, theatrical and musical performance, and visual art.Through the Federal Art Project (FAP), artists were hired to decorate public buildings with murals and mosaics. The painting on Samohi's Barham Hall's fire curtain and the Viking mosaic in the auditorium's foyer is the work of the very well known Stanton McDonald Wright. Another component of the FAP focused on hiring artists to teach the secrets of their craft in schools and public art centers. Nationwide over 10,000 works of art were produced and collected during the program's existence.
The artwork exhibited here is from the gallery's permanent collection. It represents a cross section of the work produced by the artist teachers and the students who participated in this phase of the WPA project. This work illustrates the spirit or purpose that these artists had set their sights, which was a sincere desire to document the 1930s by capturing the experiences of ordinary people. Thus it served to preserve vivid images of the Great Depression and at times record aspects of this era that would have otherwise disappeared. Federal One often focused attention on materials in which private agencies or academic institutions had previously shown little interest. It also strove to dissolve the notion that art, whether paintings, plays, or symphonies, was reserved for the elite. The masses were afforded an opportunity to hear music or see stage productions that might otherwise have been beyond their means. It also enabled individuals to develop latent abilities and skills that they didn't realize existed in themselves. Moreover, the artists themselves received an opportunity to continue developing skills during a period when traditional sources of patronage were sparse. These art works serve as a tribute to the spirit and aesthetic nature of the Americans who endured the frustrations and hardship of this era.--David Wood, Gallery Director
Althea Ulber
Dorothy Jeakins
Arthur Durston
Bessie Heller
Andrew Aldrin
Carlos Dryer
Erik Gill
Frederich Monhoff
Hideo Date
Ivan Partlett
Jerre Muray
Dorothy Hewes
Jacinto Roman
Katherine Skoele
Jean Goodwin
Kaye Watters
Paul Starrett Sample
Marian Curtis
Nina Ullberg
Marie Laurencin
Rex Brandt
Tyrus Wong
Tyrus Wong