New Deal Accomplishment: 127,639 easel-type paintings

Above: "No. 2 the Clipper," an oil on canvas painting by Cedric W. Windas (1888-1966), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), 1934. Between 1933 and 1934, PWAP artists created 54 portraits, 2,938 water colors, and 3,821 oil paintings. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Harlem River," an oil on canvas painting by Palmer Cole Hayden (1890-1973) created while he was in the New Deal's Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), between 1935 and 1938. 10,204 easel paintings were created by TRAP artists for "Federal offices and buildings, penal institutions, hospitals and educational institutions" ("Treasury Relief Art Project – Administration – Final Report – Statistics," in "Papers of Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz (Federal Arts Projects Research Materials)," FDR Presidential Library and Museum). Image from the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Above: This is part of a longer newspaper article that appeared in the January 31, 1935 edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican. Between 1934 and 1935, artists funded by the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) created 1,470 water colors and 1,053 oil paintings. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Loggers," a watercolor and pencil on paper, by Edward Morton, created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. From 1935 to 1943, WPA artists created 108,099 easel works (see next image for what was considered an "easel work"). These works were displayed, exhibited, and circulated all across the United States for the public to enjoy. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: This highlights the types of artworks that were created under the auspices of the Federal Art Project's Easel Division. This comes from the brochure: Art As A Function Of Government (Supervisors Association Of The WPA Federal Art Project, 1937, second edition).

Above: A WPA poster, promoting a Water Color Show at the Westfield Athenaeum (Westfield, Massachusetts), ca. 1936. Image from the Library of Congress.

Above: Another WPA poster, this one promoting an exhibition of WPA oil paintings in New York City, ca. 1940. Image from the Library of Congress.

Above: A WPA traveling art exhibit, in New York State, ca. 1939. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster advertising an exhibit of paintings in Boston by women in the Federal Art Project, between 1936 and 1938. Image from the Library of Congress.

Above: "To Law Street," an oil on canvas painting by Bertha Linneman, created while she was in the WPA, between 1935 and 1943. Not a lot seems to be known about Linneman, but a 1925 newspaper article about upcoming exhibits reported the following: "Bertha Linneman shows a collection of landscapes and still lifes. Miss Linneman has a fresh, spontaneous color sense which she applies in clear broken color at times and again in rich impastos [impastos are heavy applications of paint, creating upraised textures]. She has a flair for simplifying her landscapes into flat patterns of dark against light or gay color against quiet tones" ("Impression and Notes of the Galleries," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York), February 22, 1925, p. 2B). Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: This photo and caption appeared in The Des Moines Register, January 9, 1936. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Sandy Acre," a watercolor and pencil on paper, by Amy Jones (1899-1992). The Smithsonian American Art Museum dates this piece to 1938 and attributes it to the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture; however, the final report of the Section of Fine Arts (same program but renamed), as well as the U.S. Treasury's annual reports from the 1930s, indicate that the Section was limited to murals and sculptures. The shorter-lived Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), on the other hand, had an extensive easel works program, so it may be that easel-type paintings attributed to the Section of Painting and Sculpture (again, later re-named to "Section of Fine Arts") were actually created under the direction of TRAP. More research is needed. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: Another artwork attributed to the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture that may actually have been created under the Treasury Relief Art Project. However, it is dated 1940 which, if accurate, would put it out of both programs and perhaps make it a WPA piece. As one can see, there can be a fair bit of confusion with New Deal artworks, due to the variety of programs and the periodic name changes that occurred among the programs. In any event, this painting is titled, "Swan in the Land of the Sky Blue Water." It is a watercolor and tempera on paperboard, created by Floyd Thornton Martin (1884-1956). Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: The description for this photograph, taken in Washington, DC, around 1938, reads: "J. Orlowsky, 631 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Artist - DC Federal Art Project." Imagine thousands of artists like Orlowsky, all across the nation, doing this painting--every day and year-round--to bring art to public places, putting tens of thousands of colorful artworks on otherwise barren and boring walls. That was the New Deal in action. Photo from the National Archives.

Creating Art for the Public, Not the Monied Few

Adding up the statistics above, we can see that the New Deal created about 127,639 easel-type paintings. Perhaps even more impressive than this, is the philosophy behind the production of so much art: the New Deal philosophy that art can and should be for everyone, not just the affluent. Holger Cahill, the director of the WPA's Federal Art Project, described the sad state of art before the New Deal:

"We have subordinated art to our desire to pile up personal possessions, to our interest in conspicuous display and conspicuous waste. We have subordinated art to our consuming passion for commercial success, to our materialistic will-to-power. We have subordinated art to our love of rivalry, our passion to outdo others in competitive activity and we have subjected it further to the whims of social snobbery, the erratic interests of dilettantism, to arbitrary judgments and irresponsible criticism. And in doing so we have helped to push art from its honorable place as a vital necessity of everyday life and have made of it a luxury product intended for the casual enjoyment of jaded wealth.  And wealth has practically stopped demanding the product since the great depression."

(“Federal Aid Held Vital To Spur Art,” New York Times, December 19, 1937)

The New Deal rebelled against the idea of art as a "luxury product" and sent paintings (and other artworks) to all corners of the United States and its territories. We the People would now have our own art, regardless of income and wealth.