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In January, 1932, 10,000 unemployed marched from Pittsburgh to
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In the midst of America’s Great Depression in the 1930s, an act unprecedented in U.S. history occurred. The government of the United States instituted work relief programs to aid the plight of the national workforce, which was nearly 30% unemployed. These programs created jobs for citizens displaced from employment in every sector of the workforce. Craftspersons, technicians, mechanics, scholars and artisans would have jobs to utilize their skills, talents and training.
Artists, never traditionally viewed as a “necessary” part of the workforce, welcomed with open arms this opportunity to work at their craft. Though it took several years to be implemented, by 1935 the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) began operating as the main employer of the nation’s artists.
This body of work is best known as “WPA art” and encompasses not only its best known example— the Post Office mural—but also includes woodcuts, lithography, easel painting, sculpture, watercolors, photography, preservation of Native American design and poster making.
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| Anthony Velonis demonstrates the silk-screen process to an art class at Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson High School, 1938. |
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© 2008 THE WHEATLEY PRESS |
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