Arts Programs Sites

In 1938, artist Bartolo Mako created a bas-relief sculpture for Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, CA. The relief is located above the entrance to the liberal arts building, which was constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. Cast in concrete, the relief features historically important intellectuals—scientists, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, engineers, astronomers, and philosophers— including Euclid, Archemedes, Plato, Aristotle, (Luigi) Galviani, (Isaac) Newton, (Benjamin) Franklin, (Antoine) Lavoisier, (Leon) Foucault, and Galileo (Galilei). Mako was likely commissioned by the Federal Art Project (FAP), as sculptor Merrell Gage had been two years earlier to create a frieze and free-standing pylon for the south entrance...

This wood relief "Horseman" by Gordon Newell and Sherry Peticolas depicts a man leading two horses. It was funded by the Treasury Relief Art Project in 1937.

Medium: oil on canvas This 1936 Section of Fine Arts mural by Ross E. Moffett depicts "Captain Alezur Holyoke's Exploring Party on the Connecticut River." The mural depicts the original explorers of the Connecticut River lead by the town’s namesake using the elaborate marble doorframe to define the small hill the explorers were standing on. Ross Moffett was born in Iowa and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Student’s League in New York City. He moved to the bay area of California and then to Provincetown, MA where he died.

Artist Lorser Feitelson painted two murals, "Henrick Hudson" and "Daniel Boone," flanking the auditorium stage at Hooper Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA. The murals—now missing—were likely funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), as Stanton Macdonald-Wright's mosaic above the doors to the school auditorium was in 1936-37.

This colorful mosaic by Stanton Macdonald-Wright is installed above the doors to the auditorium at Hooper Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA. Entitled "Products of Nature and Inventions of Man," the mosaic was created under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) in 1936-37. A 1936 article in California Arts & Architecture described the partially completed work: "This mosaic mural will be approximately eight feet wide by seven feet high. It symbolizes the products of nature and the works of man. The mosaic, a form of mural decoration developed by the Federal Art Project in southern California, is...

The three panels of this mural "The Life of Horace Mann" depicting scenes from the life of Horace Mann was painted by Ralf Henricksen in 1937 with funds from the WPA Federal Art Project.

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Community Life of Oak Park in the 19th Century," was painted in 1936 by Emmanuel Jacobson and Ralf Henricksen, with assistance from Charles Copeland and Irene Biannucci. The work was funded by the WPA Federal Art Project. The mural, measuring 7' by 75', still resides in the corridor of the Horace Mann School.

The school auditorium contains a WPA mural "Landscape" by Florian Durzynski. Medium: oil on canvas Size: 10" h x 20' w

John A. Fleck painted the mural "Choctaw Indians See the First Mail Coach" in 1938 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural was painted for what was then the Hugo post office, now the Hugo School Administration Office.

This oil-on-canvas mural "Harvest at Fort Payne" was painted by Harwood Steiger in 1938. The mural was originally in the post office, then moved to the DeKalb County Courthouse in 1980 after a new post office was built. In 2001, it was moved to Hunt Hall which is part of the Hosiery Museum. “Steiger, of New York, admitted he had never been as far south as Fort Payne when he received the invitation to produce a mural there. Steiger did make a trip to Fort Payne within a month and found the postmaster most helpful as he prepared his sketches. The...

The WPA undertook extensive construction and improvements at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in the mid 1930s. The Iowa State Fair information page describes the history of the site and the extent of the work carried out by the WPA: "Extensive improvements – from reroofing the Cattle Barn to building a storm sewer on Dean Avenue – heralded the 1934 Fair. A five-day program of harness and running horse races offered more than $12,500 in premiums. Forty additional acres were added to the Campgrounds, increasing the total to 160 acres and making it the largest of its kind in the U.S Lighting on...

"The murals in the Grant Wood Heritage Area and on the walls of the staircase leading to the Upper Lobby of the original building are without doubt the major artistic feature of the Iowa State University Library." These murals by Grant Wood can be divided into two main sets: eight panels of the Other Arts Follow mural were painted under the PWAP in 1934; the three panels referred to as "Breaking the Prairie" were painted two years later under the WPA/NYA. "The eight panels of the Other Arts Follow mural reflect the divisions of Iowa State College at the time: Veterinary...

The Food Sciences Building courtyard contains a 1934 fountain decorated with six bas-relief panels created by artist Christian Petersen under the Public Works of Art Project: "This mural, composed of six bas relief panels flanking a central fountain, depicts the history of the dairy industry in Iowa and America. The first three panels, located to the left of the fountain, depict the 19th century processes involved with the dairy production. At that time, everyone in the family took part in the milk production process: hand milking, straining, butter churning, and hauling milk to town were all part of the process before...

Ivan Bartlett painted a mural, "Life of Washington Irving," at Washington Irving Junior High School (now Irving STEAM Magnet School) in Los Angeles, CA. Completed in 1936, the mural was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP). Located in the auditorium's interior foyer, the mural depicts "characters and scenes from the works of American author Washington Irving, such as the headless horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (Dunitz, p. 105). Bartlett's other New Deal works in the region include a mural, "Industrial Activities in Long Beach" (1938), at Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, CA. He also assisted Norman Chamberlain with...

Artist Julius Woeltz painted six murals for the lobby of the J. Marvin Jones Federal Building under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts program in 1940. The murals are titled: "Gang-Plow," "Harrow," "Coronado's Exploration Party," "Cattle Loading," "Oil" and "Cattle Branding."

The historic Jackson Heights Station post office houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Development of Jackson Heights," a Section of Fine Arts-commissioned mural by Peppino Mangravite.

"San Diego Harbor" was painted by an unknown artist in 1935 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Medium: oil on canvas

"San Diego Mural" was painted by Belle Baranceanu in 1934 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Medium: oil on canvas

"Gateway to the Desert" was painted by Esther Barney in 1934 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Medium: oil on canvas

This 1912 post office building serves as the Main Post Office for New York and houses two 1938 murals by Louis Lozowick, entitled "Triboro Bridge in Process of Construction'' and ''Sky Line and Waterfront Traffic as Seen from Manhattan Bridge." The murals are located at the Eighth Avenue side of the building. They were funded under the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP).

Now privately owned, the James O. Eastland federal post office and courthouse was constructed in 1933-34. The building contains a controversial New Deal mural painted in 1938 by Simka Simkovitch titled "Pursuit of Life in Mississippi." After being covered up for decades, the mural was rediscovered in 2011. The mural "shows African-Americans picking cotton and playing the banjo alongside a white family... The mural, which is in the main courtroom on the fourth floor, had been hidden behind a curtain since the 1960s when the first African-American judge appointed to the federal court in Mississippi ordered it to be covered, historians said. The...

"The murals in the Paul Bunyan Room in the Wisconsin Student Union in Madison, WI were done by James Watrous funded by the PWAP."

The Jefferson nickel, an essential coin in Americans' pockets for over fifty years, was designed and first minted during the New Deal. On March 6, 1938, The Sunday Star newspaper (Washington, DC) reported that, “The Section of Painting and Sculpture, Procurement Division, Treasury Department, announces a competition for a design for a new 5-cent coin, to be known as the ‘Jefferson Nickel.’” The award was $1,000 (about $20,000 in 2021 dollars). The judges of the competition were: Nellie Tayloe Ross, director of the U.S. Mint; Sidney Waugh, creator of several New Deal artworks; Albert Stewart, whose sculptures adorn the San Francisco Mint;...

In 1937, Saul Rabino painted a mural, "Moses—Hebrew Prophets," for the Jewish Home for the Aged in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. He received funding from the Federal Art Project (FAP). Inspired by the Los Angeles County Poor Farm in Downey, CA, the Hebrew Sheltering Association opened its Home for the Aged  in August 1915. The Home provided "housing to around forty full-time residents ranging from seventy to ninety-three years old, as well as daily kosher meals, clothing, and free religious services at Congregation Tiferes Israel (located just across the street on East First) to all of those...

Junior High School 113 ("Richard R. Green", formerly Olinville Junior High) contains a two-panel oil on canvas mural entitled "Industry and Farming" painted by Edna Hershman in 1941. The murals were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project. The label of the archival photo pictured here reads: Edna Hershman went to the School of Fine Arts at Yale on several scholarships. She won medals from the Beaux Arts in mural painting. One of her murals hangs in the nurses' recreation room of the Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island. She is at present executing a mural "Constructive Effort of Man" for the...

"A mural called "Allegory in Chattanooga" curves behind the judge's bench. Installed in 1937, it was painted by Hilton Leech under the auspices of the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture. The mural illustrates the history of the city through the New Deal era and includes a transmission tower symbolizing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), headquartered in Chattanooga from its inception in 1935."   (https://www.gsa.gov)

In addition to a New Deal mural by Hilton Leech, the building contains a cast-aluminum sculpture "The Mail Carrier" by Leopold Scholz. It was installed in 1938 under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

As part of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), Arthur Ames completed two oil on gesso murals for the John C. Fremont School in Anaheim, California. They were painted for the entrance hall for the school auditorium. The original mural was 14 feet by 87 feet. The mural depicts a man, presumably a school teacher, surrounded by school children. The original murals are presumed to have been lost when the school building was redeveloped in the 1970s. The school closed because of high upkeep costs and low attendance. A housing tract was built.  A black and white image of one of the...

Artist Tyrone Comfort painted two murals, "Printing" and "Science and Industry," at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, CA. He was funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). "Printing" depicted "the industry from the time of stone records, monastic production of books, and Chinese block printing, to the most modern machines and processes. "Mr. Tyrone Comfort is the young man whose easel painting 'Gold Is Where You Find It' was one of thirty-one chosen by President Roosevelt for hanging in the White House, from a showing of 15,000 in the Carnegie-Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., in 1934" (Wells, p. 21). Comfort's...

Artist P. G. Napolitano painted two frescoes at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, CA. The two 6' by 8' panels are located on either side of the main lobby's entrance. Napolitano received funding from the Federal Arts Project (FAP). "Mr. Napolitano's main interest has always been in murals, which he executes in tempra (egg white), in frescoes, and in Sgraffito which he introduced here in creative work. Much of his work is marked by the omission of pretty detail and mere decorativeness until only the essential stand out; economy of line, rhythm, and strength are the three uppermost...

In 1934, Harold Swartz created a bronze sculpture for John Marshall High School (Los Angeles, CA) of the school's namesake. He likely received funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP).

Three 15' x 7.5' frescoes by David Park on the themes "Art," "Civilization," and "Nature." The frescoes surround the main entrance. The murals were done as part of the Public Works of Art Program (then funded by the CWA).

This WPA building is ornamented with "Cast concrete sculptures on the facade created by artist Raymond Barger, a Maryland native who studied at the Carnegie Institute and Yale. Completed in 1940, the carved sculptures were executed under the WPA's federal art program. The sculptures above the two main entrances depict stylized eagles. On the projecting pavilions, the sculptures consist of the head and torso of human figures, a sun or moon and stars, and illustrations of different means of delivering mail." (gsa.gov)

This mural "The Discovery of Tennessee," painted by Dean Cornwell, was completed with New Deal funds in 1941.

In 1936, artist Dorothy Jeakins completed an oil on canvas painting titled "White Pitcher" for Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School (formerly Mount Vernon Junior High School) in Los Angeles, CA. Located in the principal's office, the painting—a still life—depicts a white pitcher and green apples scattered on a table covered with a red cloth. It is framed in a gilded frame and the back is inscribed “Mt. Vernon JHS Student Body" with a partial Federal Art Project (FAP) label #6083 dated “10-7-36” affixed to the verso stretcher bar. A student of Stanton Macdonald-Wright, director of the Southern California division of the...

In 1934, with Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) funding, Sargent Johnson created an organ screen for the California School for the Blind in Berkeley. Today, the organ screen—a 22-foot-long redwood relief of musicians, animals, birds, and plants—is located at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. Two years after creating the organ screen, Johnson was hired by the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (WPA-FAP) as a senior sculptor; soon he was promoted to unit supervisor. Under the auspices of the FAP, Johnson completed a companion relief for the School for the Blind to be...

Althea Ulber painted a mural, "Youth and Democracy," at Jordan High School in Los Angeles, CA. The 4 x 30 foot mural is located in the school library. Completed in 1937, it was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP). The mural depicts fifteen figures of different ethnicities, with an older man at the center. A ribbon painted across the mural reads "Confucius, Good Relationship, Music, Industry, Language, Law, Literature, BROTHERHOOD, Dignity, Love for Nature, Courtesy, Fine Taste." Born in Los Angeles, Ulber studied with artists including Stanton Macdonald-Wright, the director of the FAP's Southern California division. From 1921 to 1941, Ulber...

A Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts-sponsored mural titled “Big City News” was by Jose Aceves and installed in the lobby of the old Borger, Texas post office in 1939. The mural, which measures 4' x 9',  is now housed in the nearby Hutchinson County Museum.  

The old Main Post Office in Arlington VA, opened in 1937,  contains seven New Deal murals by Auriel Bessemer in its lobby.  The mural series is titled, "Agricultural and Industrial Scenes – Sketches of Virginia."  They were commissioned by the Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts, painted in 1939 and installed in 1940.   Auriel Bessemer was a local artist and the panels show familiar scenes of Virginia life in the past.  The seven panels depict Indians on Analostan Island, Captain John Smith and the Indians, tobacco picking at the Lee mansion, Robert E. Lee receiving his Confederate commission in Richmond, a...

Located at the southeast corner of Fourteenth Street and Magnolia Avenue in Riverside, California is the Juan Bautista De Anza statue, created by Sherry Peticolas with WPA support. The Riverside Art Association, which sponsored the project, donated $5,000 and the rest of the cost was paid for with federal funds. The space in Newman Park was provided by the city, and Riverside resident Ed J. Loustaunau, a great-great-great-great-grandnephew of De Anza posed for the statue, since he was thought to resemble an old portrait of De Anza himself. Because of the unstable nature of the land where it is located,...