Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) Sites

The Winchester Public Library website describes an example of New Deal artwork: The Library's largest work of art is the mural in the main lobby, facing the front door and above the entrance to the Reference Room. Entitled “Purchase of Land from the Indians,” the mural depicts the sale of the land on which Winchester stands to the colonists by the Squaw Sachem. It was painted by Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896–1969) in 1934. Funding for the mural came from the United States Government's Civil Works Administration's Public Works of Art project, which employed artists to paint murals for public buildings during the...

This grand post office takes up almost an entire city block. It was constructed in 1931 under the Treasury Department's supervising architect James A. Wetmore, prior to the advent of the New Deal. The post office contains six New Deal murals funded by the PWAP in 1934. The artists are W. H. Baker and Dwight Holmes. There are three paintings on each of the east and west walls of the office. The middle panels are approximately 4 feet by 9 feet. The outer panels are approximately 3 feet 6 inches by 4 feet. It is not clear which paintings were...

The post office contains a massive set of murals by Vincent Aderente that wrap around the interior of the lobby. The murals depicts scenes from the early history of the twelve communities served by the Flushing Post Office. Some sources suggest that the murals were funded by the Civil Works Administration through the Public Works of Art Project, administered by the Treasury Department, in 1933-34, though further confirmation of this is needed.

In 1934, Frank Long completed two murals, entitled "Labor" and "Recreation," for the browsing room of the University of Kentucky library, with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). The above photo depicts "Labor," in situ, in 1939. From contributor Charles Swaney: "The murals consist of 2 ten foot tall panels, oil on canvas, that are in arched alcoves. The thrust of both murals is upwards and towards the center of the murals.  There is a strong component of rounded upwards that is complimentary for both of them.  They are presently in the special collections center of the library,...

This 16' x 40', oil on canvas mural, "Modern Education/School Activities," was completed in 1942 by Frank Tolles Chamberlin after seven years of intermittent work. He received funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in 1934 and from the Federal Art Project (FAP) from 1935. The mural adorns the school library. The artist described its theme as "youth and its activities." According to Pasadena News Now, "With a typical Southern California landscape as a backdrop, forty-nine students of different backgrounds participate in a number of activities such as chemistry, sculpture, radio transmission, horseback riding and blacksmithing. The mural conveys...

The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA), along with local sources (Rotary Club and City of Anaheim), funded a sculpture of actress Helena Modjeska. The sculpture was created by Eugene Maier-Krieg in 1934 and resides in the northeast corner of Pearson Park in Anaheim, California. Modjeska was an actress who first immigrated to Anaheim, CA from Poland. She went on to stardom as a Shakespearean actress, regularly touring the country. But she returned to Orange County often for vacation and eventually purchased property in the area. The front of the statue portrays Modjeska...

In 1934, Aurelius Battaglia painted two murals for the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood library,  "Animal Circus" and  "Animal Orchestra."   They occupy two reading alcoves off the Children's Room to this day. Funding was provided by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), an early New Deal relief program for unemployed artists. Later, Battaglia moved to California and joined Walt Disney, animating classics such as Dumbo, Pinocchio and Fantasia. Mount Pleasant is a branch of the DC public library system.  The lovely building was paid for by the Carnegie Foundation in 1903.

Bathhouse number 6 was the last bathhouse built in St. Louis during the time when the need for bathing by those with no indoor plumbing was a critical problem. They were built in those areas of the city with the highest concentrations of laborers. Less than 1 in 1,000 of the 25% poorest had indoor plumbing. This bathhouse was built by the PWA in 1936-1937 for $42,763. This bathhouse has 2 doors, men's to the right, women's to the left.

Four fresco panels entitled "The Voice of the Earth", "The Voice of the Sky", "The Voice of the Sipophe", and "The Voice of the Water" were painted by artist Will Shuster in the patio of the New Mexico Museum of Art under the Public Works Art Project. Indian artist Velino Shije Herrera (a.k.a Ma Pe Wi) trained in fresco in order to help execute the project. The patio murals one of several New Deal arts projects completed by Shuster with federal funding. Shuster initially proposed completing a series of portraits of prominent local Indian artists and craftspeople, but the federal...

Title: "Polo Ponies" "s part of the Works Project Administration, created a polo mural that currently hangs in the Santa Fe State Capitol passageway between the Capitol and its Annex. It is on a long term loan from the New Mexico National Guard. This mural may have been planned to be placed at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell but actually started out at the state's Horse Calvary Unit in Albuquerque before being moved to the Military Museum (the New Deal built Armory) in Santa Fe."   (Flynn) Medium: oil on canvas Size: tryptich Restoration Info: Restored 2007

Ivan Albright’s 1934 self-portrait is his first ever known painted self-portrait (of many to be created throughout his life). It was made as part of the PWAP’s easel painting project. He personally requested it be presented to his alma mater, New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois. It has remained in the school’s collection, and an alumnus states that it is currently on display in a hallway outside Music Building Room M-284. “Due to the value of the Albright painting, we cannot display it securely in our high school buildings. We regularly loan it to art museums, most recently DePaul’s”...

This building, formerly known as the New York County Courthouse, contains several large New Deal murals created by a variety of artists, begun under the Public Works of Art Program (PWAP) in 1934 and continued under the WPA's Federal Art Project. Most of the murals were painted by Attilio Pusterla with the help of several assistants. The vestibule ceiling contains brightly painted murals by Pusterla and his assistants painted in a "grand Italian decorative style" (nytimes). The subject of these murals is the administration of justice, and the murals depict many allegorical figures representing Truth, Error, Protection, Security, Army and Navy among...

A 4 x 9 foot mural, "Our Daily Bread," was painted by Frederick Stoddard in 1934 with the help of New Deal funds for the old Central Grammar School – now O'Maley Middle School in Gloucester MA. Given the date, the work was almost surely paid for by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), which hired unemployed artists in the depth of the Depression.  

An 18-foot art deco sculpture, "Santa Monica" by Eugene Morahan, is located in Palisades Park at the foot of Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, CA. It was created in 1934 with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP).

Harodl Bugbee completed two murals for the museum. "The Cattlemen" was completed with funds from the PWAP in 1934. "Ranch Headquarters" was completed in 1940 with support from the WPA Federal Art Project.

Ben Carlton Mead completed two New Deal murals for the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. One, "Coronado's Coming" was painted in 1934 with funding from the PWAP. Another, "Antelope Creek Focus" was painted in 1940 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.  

What was then Peekskill High School received murals in 1934 painted under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in 1934. Created by B. Janes Thornley (a.k.a. James Thornley), the work "Technology Advancement" and its companion pieces "History Procession from Egypt to Modern Times," decorated the Ringgold Street building that was Peekskill High School from 1930 to 1972 and Peekskill Middle School from 1972 to 2008. That building "was demolished to make way for the new middle school, which opened in 2009," and the mural has since been restored and placed in what is now Peekskill Middle School. Patch: "The mural was...

In 1934, Roger Noble Burnham sculpted a bronze bust for Phineas Banning High School in Los Angeles, CA, of former principal W. I. Travers. The portrait bust is listed as missing by the Los Angeles Public Library. Burnham also contributed to the Astronomer's Monument (1934), a Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in Griffith Park (Los Angeles, CA). A different artist was responsible for each of the six astronomers depicted; Burnham sculpted the William Herschel figure.

The building contains three murals by artist Burton Callicott in 1934, commissioned under the CWA's Public Works of Art Project. The murals are titled "Conflict with the Indians" (left panel), "Coming of De Soto" (center panel), and "The Discovery of the Mississippi River" (right panel). "For over fifty years, few visitors to the original building of the Memphis Pink Palace Museum have failed to notice the three large murals over the staircase in the lobby. There, in bold oranges and greens and in a dramatic style, is depicted the coming of Hernando De Soto to West Tennessee. The first mural...is filled...

The historic New London post office houses magnificent examples of New Deal artwork. Tom La Farge painted a six-panel mural for the lobby of the New London post office. Sources suggest that the work was initially commissioned by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and later installed under the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). NHRP nomination: Murals painted in 1933 and installed in 1938 depict scenes typical of early whaling, and are integrated well into the lobby design. The murals were commissioned as part of the Public Works of Art Program and painted by Thomas Sergeant Lafarge of New York, an...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

The library contains four murals by Jerry Bywaters completed under the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in in 1934: "Rebuilding Paris," "The 1916 Paris Fire--3rd Worst in American History," "John Chisum," and "Davy Crockett.  

An enormous mural cycle by Stanton Macdonald-Wright, entitled  "Invention and Imagination," hangs in the Santa Monica Public Library.  It consists of 30 panels painted on plywood and covers a total of 2,000 square feet.  The mural cycle was created under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in 1934 and completed in 1935. In the original installation in the old Santa Monica Public Library at 503 Santa Monica Boulevard, the murals covered all the wall space in the reading room. When that library was torn down in 1965, the mural panels were put in storage at the Smithsonian...

Walter Inglis Anderson and his brother, James McConnell Anderson were commissioned in 1935 to create murals for the 1927 Ocean Springs Public High School as part of the Public Works of Art Project. “Ocean Springs: Past and Present” was a six-panel oil on canvas. “The Fish and Bird Mural” was a tile mural constructed in four sections. Both are in the Walter Anderson Museum of Art since 1991. Anderson’s murals were painted on canvas sheets and then glued to the wall of the school auditorium, flanking the stage. Two were 14 feet long horizontal panels and placed on the wall between...

In 1934, artist Milford Zornes completed a watercolor painting titled "The Bay" for Robert E. Peary Middle School (formerly Gardena High School) in Gardena, CA. Located in Room 18, the painting painting depicts a large tree overlooking blue water. The title is written in the lower left corner. It is framed under glazing in a wood frame with a small brass plate that reads "Public Works of Art Project." Zornes was an Oklahoma-born watercolorist for whom Western landscapes were a favorite subject. He also did a New Deal mural for the post office in Claremont, CA.

"In addition to the public-works projects, Santa Fe also had more than its share of New Deal-financed art and craft projects designed to train young men and women in traditional skills while producing works of art for public buildings. Perhaps the best known of the New Deal art in Santa Fe are the six murals landscapes on canvas affixed to the walls by William Penhallow Henderson in the U.S. District Court building on Federal Place. The old courthouse, built between 1853 and 1889, recently got three more New Deal artworks scenes of Navajo life painted by Warren Rollins for a...

Malvin Gary Johnson painted two murals, "Nat Turner" and "Toussaint L'Ouverture" in 1934 with funds provided by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP).

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of a sewage disposal plant in Denver, CO.

The mural was painted in 1934 by Raymond Breinin, an artist hired by the Public Works Art Project. Soon after its completion, the mural became the subject of a political controversy and the school board voted to cover it.  The remnants of the mural are located at the Skokie School Learning Center. The original artwork was 40 foot-wide by 10 foot-tall.

Dacre F. Boulton painted two oil-on-canvas murals, "Industrial" and "Winter," for the U.S. Department of Labor in 1933-1934 with funds provided by the Public Works of Art Project of the Treasury Department (PWAP).  The Smithsonian American Art Museum received this and other artworks in the 1960s when they were transferred from federal offices that had previously displayed them.  The Boulton murals are not on display.

Lily Furedi's oil-on-canvas mural, "Subway," was painted in 1934 under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project – a relief program to hire unemployed artists. The Smithsonian American Art Museum received Subway and other surviving artworks in the 1960s when they were transferred from the agencies that had previously displayed them. Furedi's painting was transferred from the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior, though it is not known where it was originally hung.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum contains hundreds of New Deal artworks.  Some are on permanent display, many are not. Of those, some are brought out for specific exhibitions from time to time. One permanent display on New Deal art features Eugenie Gershoy's sculptures, "Goddess of Fertility" and New Deal artists at work.  There is a nice plaque acknowledging the Public Works of Art Project and the Federal Arts Project and the thousands of artworks produced under those New Deal arts programs.

Harry W. Scheuch completed two murals for the PWAP titled "Workers on the Cathedral of Learning" and "Finishing the Cathedral of Learning" that were transferred from U.S. Department of Labor to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. According to the Smithsonian: "Artist Harry Scheuch painted the Cathedral of Learning twice for the PWAP. The first image is a close-up view of the masons at work(1964.1.157), while this second painting (1964.1.42) is a more distant view that reveals the horde of workers involved. Together the two paintings tell the story of this mighty undertaking. The forty-two-story structure was not substantially completed until 1937,...

"Bulloch Hall" by Frances Lee Turner was painted in 1934 under the auspices of either the Civil Works Administration (CWA) or the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), which gave work to unemployed artists in the early years of the New Deal. The painting traveled from Roswell GA to Washington DC to be hung in the White House. It was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1965. The painting, like hundreds of other New Deal artworks in the American Art Museum,  is not presently on display.  

South Park and the nearby Cazenovia Park in Buffalo were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century. The caption to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo pictured here lists this water tank as one of five water tanks built by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in South Park during the Great Depression. It notes that while the PWA built the water tank structure, the WPA laid the foundations for the steel work "...and put in water lines." More information is needed to determine the present status and exact location of this water tank.

"However reluctant to see their state go on the federal dole, Cheyenne officials accepted, in June, 1933, Wyoming's first New Deal relief allotment. By December some 8000 Wyomingites were at work on jobs financed by the Civil Works Administration. A handful of these people -perhaps a half dozen -were part of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), working in Cheyenne. This federal agency lasted only about six months and its work in Wyoming was minimal; a mural in McCormick Junior High in Cheyenne, and some decorative work in the State Capitol Building, but the tasks were the first example...

This addition to the Switzer School was to the north of the building constructed in 1899 and replaced the original Switzer School which was built in 1882. The addition was completed in 1939 with funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and designed by Nate Downes. The entry is marked with cut stone and Switzer School in raised lettering. It has a brick modern deco style and consists of 12 classrooms, 6 to a floor and a large hall on the first level. It is in the process of being repurposed.