Celebrates the 75th anniversary of the U.S. Public Works of Art Program, created in 1934 against the backdrop of the Great Depression. The 55 paintings in this volume are a lasting visual record of America at a specific moment in time; a response to an economic situation that is all too familiar

Commemorates the achievements of the artists put to work by the government and explores how their art repaired the national sense of self. From publisher description.

At its height in 1935, the New Deal devoted roughly $27 million ($320 million today) to supporting tens of thousands of needy writers, dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists, who created over 100,000 worksbooks, murals, plays, concertsthat were performed for or otherwise imbibed by millions of Americans. But why did the government get so involved with the arts in the first place? Musher addresses this question and many others by exploring the political and aesthetic concerns of the 1930s, as well as the range of responsesfrom politicians, intellectuals, artists, and taxpayersto the idea of active government involvement in the arts. In the process, she raises vital questions about the roles that the arts should play in contemporary society."

As the Great Depression touched every corner of America, the New Deal promoted indigenous arts and crafts as a means of bootstrapping Native American peoples. But New Deal administrators' romanticization of indigenous artists predisposed them to favor pre-industrial forms rather than art that responded to contemporary markets. In A New Deal for Native Art, Jennifer McLerran reveals how positioning the native artist as a pre-modern Other served the goals of New Deal programs—and how this sometimes worked at cross-purposes with promoting native self-sufficiency. She describes federal policies of the 1930s and early 1940s that sought to generate an upscale market for Native American arts and crafts. And by unraveling the complex ways in which commodification was negotiated and the roles that producers, consumers, and New Deal administrators played in that process, she sheds new light on native art’s commodity status and the artist’s position as colonial subject. In this first book to address the ways in which New Deal Indian policy specifically advanced commodification and colonization, McLerran reviews its multi-pronged effort to improve the market for Indian art through the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, arts and crafts cooperatives, murals, museum exhibits, and Civilian Conservation Corps projects. Presenting nationwide case studies that demonstrate transcultural dynamics of production and reception, she argues for viewing Indian art as a commodity, as part of the national economy, and as part of national political trends and reform efforts. McLerran marks the contributions of key individuals, from John Collier and Rene d’Harnoncourt to Navajo artist Gerald Nailor, whose mural in the Navajo Nation Council House conveyed distinctly different messages to outsiders and tribal members. Featuring dozens of illustrations, A New Deal for Native Art offers a new look at the complexities of folk art “revivals” as it opens a new window on the Indian New Deal.

...fills another important need for art researchers. New Deal art is the product of the largest publicly funded arts program in American history and as such, holds a special attraction for collectors... --ANTIQUE WEEK ...a valuable reference resource. Highly recommended for all research collections serving American history and art.--LIBRARY JOURNAL

Art for everyone--the Federal Art Project's drive for middlebrow visual culture and identity

"The Green New Deal is the most exciting idea in American politics for decades––and as theses powerful posters make clear, it’s grabbed the attention not just of policy wonks but of artists who can translate these ideas into images that move us.”––Bill McKibben, bestselling author of Deep Economy Posters with a purpose. A clarion call for our time, the Green New Deal is a bold and far-reaching legislative plan to fight climate change, create millions of good-paying jobs, promote economic and racial equality, and so much more. In its ambition, it’s a vision that mirrors President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which helped pull the country out of the Great Depression. And just as WPA artists mustered support for the New Deal with their work, here are 50 powerful posters to champion the Green New Deal. The posters are original, colorful, and visually striking, with text on the back that explains each issue and how the Green New Deal seeks to address it. Perforated pages make them easy to tear out and hang or use as signs at marches and demonstrations, because it’s not just a book to flip through. Climate change affects everything: the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat, the places we call home, and the people we love. And the time to act on it is now.