Displaying items by tag: works progress administration

Federal agents have recently recovered dozens of lost historic art pieces ordered and funded by the U.S. government during the Great Depression.

Investigators with the Inspector General’s office of the General Services Administration told the News4 I-Team they located a trove of Works Progress Administration artwork in the attic, basements and storage areas of some California libraries.

The 122 paintings were among an estimated 100,000 pieces of Works Progress Administration that have gone missing in the decades since their completion, according to an I-Team investigation.

Thomas Hart Benton’s (1889-1975) epic mural, America Today (1930-31) has found a new home at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. A sweeping panorama of American life, the work once lined a boardroom at the International-Style New School for Social Research on West 12^th Street, which was designed by the Austrian architect, Joseph Urban (1872-1933).

The 10-panel mural, which was Benton’s first major commission, ushered in a new approach to mural painting, turning to the reality of everyday life for inspiration. America Today portrays American life prior to the Great Depression and features the flappers, farmers, steel workers, and stock market moguls that are readily associated with the period. The mural remains Benton’s best-known work and a masterpiece of modern art.     

Benton, an American realist painter, drew inspiration for the mural from his travels around the United States in the 1920s. A glimpse into both rural and urban life at the time, America Today portrays the wealthy and poor as well as the progressive and traditional ideals that defined the era. While Benton did not receive a fee for the commission, the work opened the door for future commissions and helped inspire the Works Progress Administration mural programs that were implemented in the late 1930s.  

Bought by the insurance company, AXA Equitable, nearly 30 years ago, America Today was in storage before the decision to donate the work was made. However, the Met is currently without extra exhibition space and the mural won’t be on view until at least 2015 when the museum takes over the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue. The Whitney is headed to its own larger space in the meatpacking district. America Today is the first artwork that Met officials have confirmed for the Breuer building.

Commissioned by the Works Progress Administration in 1936, the murals for the Harlem Hospital Center stirred up some controversy at the time of their conception. The WPA effortlessly approved sketches by seven artists depicting the day-to-day lives of black people throughout history. However, the hospital had trepidations in regard to the subject matter. Protestors rallied and filed complaints that trickled down to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president at the time. The artists and WPA ultimately won the battle and the murals were brought to life.

Despite the rich historical and social context, the murals had until recently, fallen into disrepair. Newly restored, the Harlem Hospital murals are the focal point of a new, $325 million pavilion at the hospital that will be unveiled on September 27th. Spanning 192,000-square-feet, the Mural Pavilion will connect the existing Martin Luther King Jr. Pavilion to the Ron Brown Building. The hospital demanded that the architects working on the Pavilion preserve the murals, a task that cost the hospital over $4 million, most of which was raised privately. Visible to not just hospital staff and patients, digital enlargements of three murals adorn the Pavilion’s 12,000-square-foot glass façade. New York City’s Public Design Commission oversaw the restoration of the murals.

The WPA’s Federal Arts Project was created in 1935 to create jobs and support for artists during the Great Depression-era’s economic downturn. Over 500 murals were commissioned for New York City public hospitals alone. The murals at the Harlem Hospital were possibly the first major federal commissions given to African-Americans. Fortunately, these important works have been granted a new life.