Still resonating with relevance, William Gropper’s incisive cartoons in defense of the WPA go on auction at New York’s Swann Galleries together with other works by celebrated WPA artists.
Works Progress Administration
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Unique Works From the WPA Sell at Auction
The Swann Galleries auction provided insight into some of the varied Works Progress Association projects sponsored by the US between 1935 and 1943.
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New National Parks Posters Keep the Spirit of the WPA Alive
The “Recreate Responsibly” campaign draws inspiration from classic 1930s park promotions.
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Two Surrealist WPA Murals Return to a Golf Course in the Bronx
After their removal a decade ago during renovations, two Surrealist murals by Allen Saalburg are conserved and back on view at the Split Rock Golf House in Pelham Bay Park, the Bronx.
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University Plans to Remove Two WPA Murals for Colonial Depictions
Two WPA murals at the University of Wisconsin–Stout are planned to be removed from public view due to their colonial views of Native Americans.
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Rescuing Roosevelt Island’s Rare, Abstract WPA Murals
“When people hear the words ‘WPA murals,’ they envision the large and heroic figures they may have seen in post offices or other public buildings across America,” said Stephanie Wiles, the director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.
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From Camera Clubs to Syphilis: The WPA’s Practical, Modernist Posters
From 1936 to 1943, around 2,000 posters were created as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
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Two Prints Go Missing at the Boston Public Library
When an employee at the Boston Public Library couldn’t find a Rembrandt etching in its Special Collections archive on April 8, it probably didn’t seem like too big a deal.
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An Era-Defining 1930s Mural of American Excess and Industry Is Revived
After its acquisition in 2012, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is debuting Thomas Hart Benton’s 1930s “America Today” mural not as a painting, but as a room.
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Idyllic, Depression-Era Watercolors of American Design
In 2013, the National Gallery of Art began digitizing their enormous collection of roughly 18,000 watercolors from the Index of American Design.
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From Poseurs to Pros: Artists and Their Models
The model is the message in Artists and Their Models, an exhibition currently on view at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art in Washington.
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A Visual History of Federal Art Spending in the United States
PHILADELPHIA — Art for Society’s Sake: The WPA and Its Legacy, on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts through April 6th, recalls an era in this country when the dissemination of art was a governmental duty, with the arts substantially funded on the federal level.