Trump Targets New Deal-Era Art
The national myth of Grandma Moses, Lotty Rosenfeld's radical linework, and how will art institutions evolve in 2026?
No rest for the wicked, least of all Trump and his cronies. As the administration continues its attacks on culture, the president is targeting a building near the National Mall with several remarkable New Deal-era murals about social security, which remain as relevant as the day they were painted.
Reporter Aaron Short brings us inside the fight to save this gem of a building, which a new petition describes as a “Sistine Chapel” of artworks centering working-class communities that the government abandoned during the Great Depression (and continues to neglect today).
This isn't the first time Trump has gone after vital pieces of art and culture, and it won't be the last. "I think the Social Security mural is the best work I’ve done," social realist painter Ben Shahn once said about his fresco in the building — and artists who follow in his footsteps are refusing to let that work so easily be erased.
—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor
Activists Fight to Salvage the “Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art”
“We couldn’t stop them from destroying the East Wing of the White House, but I pledge we’ll stop them from destroying the Wilbur Cohen building," Alex Lawson, executive director of the advocacy organization Social Security Works, told Aaron Short. Lawson is one of the authors of a new petition to save the historic space in Washington, DC, which houses works by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Ethel and Jenne Magafan, just to name a few.
From Our Critics
What the Smithsonian Won’t Say About Grandma Moses
The benign narrative of the beloved artist must be deconstructed, as she also embodies the US’s detrimental values. | Bryan Martin
Uman’s Diasporic Abstraction
The artist paints the distance between the homeland you lose and the one you try to dream back into existence. | Qingyuang Deng
Lotty Rosenfeld Weaponized the Line
The Chilean artist knew that survival under authoritarianism requires both sustenance and nerve — something to live on and something to stand for. | Clara Maria Apostolatos
Mitchell Johnson: Two San Francisco Exhibitions of Large-Scale Paintings
The Bay Area artist opens 2026 with Large New England Landscapes (Selected Paintings 2008-2025) and Giant Abstract and Landscape Works (Selected Paintings 2012-2025).
The Future of Art Museums
This Is the Year We Redefine Art Institutions
Writer and curator Lise Ragbir sat down with two fellow arts workers, eunice bélidor and Dejha Carrington, for a grounding conversation about art museums in 2026 — namely, the roles they should shed and embrace in order to cultivate community and redefine what an art institution can be.
Member Comment
Barry Steely on Aaron Short's "The Rise of Contemporary Art Puzzles":
John Michael Kohler Arts Center – Arts/Industry Residency
During this three-month residency, artists work in Kohler Co.’s pottery and foundry in Wisconsin with full studio access, free industrial materials, use of equipment, technical support, housing, round-trip transportation, and a monthly honorarium. Read more on Hyperallergic.
Deadline: February 28, 2026 | jmkac.org
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
From the Archive
Reclaiming a Whitewashed History of the Great Depression
A new exhibition focuses on Black Southerners documented by photographers like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Ben Shahn. | Monica Uszerowicz
