New Deal Accomplishment: 18,815 sculptures for the American public


Above: "Deer and Fawn," a sculpture by Louise Pritchard (1912-1965), created while she was in the WPA, 1937. You can learn more about Pritchard, "Dear and Fawn," and a companion piece, "Cougar and Cub," on the website of the University of Oregon. Photo from the National Archives.


Above: "Miner's Son," a sculpture by Bernard Walsh (1912-2004), created while he was in the WPA, between 1935 and 1940. Walsh also created at least one animal sculpture for the Herman Biggs Memorial Hospital in Ithaca, New York. The sculpture was part of a set that was recently restored and is now located at the Cayuga Medical Center, also in Ithaca ("WPA sculptures receive a facelift," Tomkins Weekly, May 31, 2016). Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum and the General Services Administration.


Above: The description for this photograph, taken in Boston, Massachusetts, between 1935 and 1943, reads, "WPA wood carver carving a panel for an East Boston High School." Photo from the National Archives.


Above: "Illinois WPA sculptors create works for schools, playgrounds and parks." Photo and description from the National Archives.


Above: You can learn more about this WPA artist and his sculpture at "Oliver LaGrone, Mercy," Albuquerque Museum (accessed October 29, 2025).


Above: WPA artists at work in Coral Gables, Florida, 1940. Between 1935 and 1943, WPA artists created 17,744 sculptures for the American public. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: This sculpture was created in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project (PWAP,1933-1934). During its short run, the Public Works of Art Project produced 647 sculptures. Photo from the PWAP's final report.


Above: These sculptures--of the extinct Dodo and Moa birds--were created for the Bird House at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. They were drawn by Elizabeth Fulda and then sculpted by Dominic Mortellito, as part of a wider Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP, 1935-1938) program at the zoo. Artists funded by TRAP completed at least 60 sculptures. Photos from a Historic American Buildings Survey.

Above: Many buildings funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA, 1933-1943) included sculptures, such as the pioneer statue on top of Oregon's new state capitol, 1939. Photo from the National Archives.


Above: The New Deal's Section of Fine Arts (created in the Treasury Department, 1934, then re-located to the Federal Works Agency, 1939) commissioned 268 sculptures. Above is "Flood Control," by Karl Lang (1897-1952), created for the Hebert Federal Building, New Orleans, 1942. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith.


Above: One of Raymond Barger's sculptures that celebrate the transportation of mail. It was commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts, completed in 1940, and is located on the John O. Pastore Federal Building in Providence, Rhode Island. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith.


Above: "Unemployment Compensation," a sculpture by Emma Davis (1905-1988), created while she was commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts, 1941. It is located on the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building (formerly the Social Security Administration Building) in Washington, DC and highlights the misery of joblessness, but also the helping hand of the New Deal. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith.


Above: An artist funded by the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). From 1934-1935, the Work Division created at least 96 sculptures (see pp. 115-116 here). Photo from the Work Division's final report.

Sculptures for the American Public

Adding up the statistics above, we come to 18,815 New Deal sculptures - and this doesn't include sculptures placed on (or in) PWA-funded buildings, since that total is difficult to know.

It was a New Deal for sculptors, and the public!

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