Art Works Sites

Two one-foot square cast-aluminum plates, depicting the  "Pied Piper of Hamelin," were produced by Domenico Mortellito in 1936 and installed in the Small Mammal House at the National Zoo. These pieces were commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), which gave work to unemployed artists in the Depression.

In 1937, Domenico Mortellito painted habitat background murals for the Bird House and the Pachyderm (Elephant) House and added murals to the zoo restaurant.  These murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), which aimed to put unemployed artists back to work.   Mortellito used a rubber-based paint for the animal house murals and carved linoleum for the restaurant.   It appears that all have been lost over the years, though two murals at the Bird House are said to survive (this  needs to be verified). Mortellito is shown in the photos below painting the background murals in the Elephant House, including...

Erwin Springweiler designed the sculptures of elephants and mammoths above the interior doors in the Elephant House at National Zoo. The actual carving was done by Lombard & Ludwig, architectural sculptors, during construction of the Elephant House in 1936-37. These works were paid for by the Treasury Relief Arts Project (TRAP).    

Erwin Springweiler’s bronze statue, “Great Anteater,” was mounted at the National Zoo in 1938.  It stands in front of the Small Mammal House. Springweiler was able to work from a live anteater at the zoo and from skeletons and furs at the American Museum of Natural History.  The statue is six feet long and three feet high. It was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The anteater statue was unveiled at the zoo on March 25, 1938, with a formal presentation to Dr. William M. Mann, director of the Zoo, and a speech by T. Edward Rowan, superintendent of painting and sculpture...

Heinz Warneke created a red granite sculpture for the National Zoo, entitled "Tumbling Bears," in 1938.  It sits at the bottom of a hill near the Large Cat area.  A plaque on the sculpture calls it Tumbling Bears, but it is also known as the "Wrestling Bear Cubs" and "Wrestling Bears." Though the date at the base of the sculpture reads "1935," it seems that this work was not finished until 1938.  The Evening Star (1938) reported that the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture submitted to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts "a sculptural group by Heinz Warneke of East Haddam,...

From the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County description plaque: "Los Angeles planners wanted to visualize the city center to improve roads, bridges, tunnels, and other public works. Sponsored by the Works Progress Administration, a team of City Planning Department model makers, draftsmen and architects surveyed downtown Los Angeles between 1938 and 1940 and built a model of which this is just a small part. Much has changed, but you can spot Union Station, City Hall and the old Plaza."

The two panels of this mural titled "History of Transportation" are part of a 31' long panorama originally installed at Lawson School. The mural was painted by Gustaf Dahlstrom with support from the WPA's Federal Art Project.

"While a supervisor, Louis Schanker did several murals for the WPA. A series of 11 murals was done for the TB wards’ dining room at the Neponsit Beach Children’s Hospital in Rockaway Queens. The official pictures, taken for the WPA, are available on line from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Some show him working on the murals while others must have been taken at the dedication ceremonies because he is shown wearing uncharacteristically formal attire. In the late 1970’s Schanker checked with the Hospital to see if the murals were still there. The Hospital had been converted into...

"This abstract mural by Rudolph Weisenborn, made in 1939, is a treasured New Deal artifact located in Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago." (Flynn and Polese) The mural is entitled "Contemporary Chicago." "Rudolph Weisenborns mural at Nettelhorst Elementary shows his interest in modern European painting styles such as Cubism. Fractured space, jagged lines, and vibrant primary colors convey Chicagos energy and modernity during the 1930s. On the left, an abstracted portrait of a sophisticated urban dweller is followed by forms of modern transportation such as small biplanes at Chicago Municipal Airport (Midway) and boats on Lake Michigan. The right half of the composition shows...

The 3'2" x 8'6" mural "Horses in Literature," which hangs in Chicago, Illinois's Nettlehorst School, was painted by Ethel Spears during the Great Depression with Federal Art Project funds.

Melrose was home to one of four New Deal Art Centers in New Mexico, where "art classes and traveling exhibitions were held." The site of these events is no longer extant. However, some of the facilities at the school campus in Melrose, New Mexico house a substantial collection of New Deal artwork, examples of which are listed at the source below.

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...

Created for the Sandia Prep School in Albuquerque. It has moved back and forth between NMTU and Sandia a couple of times, but now seems permanently situated here. This may not in fact have been a government-funded piece. Medium: sandstone New Mexico School of Mines is now known as New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

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

“Cotton Industry and Farming” Medium: fresco “In 1934 Olive Rush, under WPA/FAP, decorated the dome-shaped entrance to the biology building with a fresco. Themes are the history of the development of plant and animal life from earliest beginnings on through to more complicated life forms, with special attention given to local flora and fauna. The cotton industry and farming, which flourished at the time, are also represented. One can hope that public interest will see that professional conservation restores the fresco to its original state. Latest decisions about restoring this fresco can be obtained at the President’s Office on campus.” -Treasures on New Mexico...

"Natural History of Plant and Animal Life" Medium: fresco

"Tom Lea, currently a resident of El Paso, created two fifteen-foot panels which are housed in this gallery on campus. They depict scenes from New Mexico's colorful history from 1599 to 1870. 'Conquistadors' presents the Spanish conquest and late historical developments in the area while 'La Mesilla' deals with the two main industries at the time: agriculture and ranching. Also included are scenes from events in the Mexican War, Apache raids and the acquisition of La Mesilla as a part of the United States via the Gadsen Purchase. Lea Researched his material in Santa Fe using documents from the...

An unknown artist painted this oil on canvas mural, located in Room M284 of New Trier High School, in 1937 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. The mural measures 8' by 8'6".

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”...

In March 1939, the school received notification that the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had awarded a grant that would pay for three murals for the school’s new auditorium. John Martin Socha was chosen as the artist. The selected scenes, drawn from regional history, included the treaty of Traverse de Sioux, the battle of New Ulm, and a third mural depicting the “progress of industry in New Ulm.” The New Ulm murals reflect the influence of Diego Rivera, whom Socha studied under in Mexico.

"In 1936, under the Works Progress Administration, the artist Abram Champanier created a series of murals for the children's ward . Champanier had done large commercial murals in the 20's for the Roxy Theater in New York and the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, among other works. For the hospital, he painted 16 panels on the theme of "Alice in Wonderland in New York." The oil-on-canvas murals are all seven feet high, but of varying widths. After the first panel, "Alice Steps Out of a Book," they cover subjects like "Alice Flies Over the East River Bridges" and "Alice and Her...

The McGraw Rotunda of the 5th Ave. library building contains a set of WPA murals: "It features The Story of the Recorded Word, a set of four large arched panels by Edward Laning, were executed for the McGraw Rotunda of the New York Public Library Main Branch from 1938 to 1942 as part of a Works Progress Admistration (WPA) Project, with supplies furnished by Isaac Phelps Stokes, author of the Iconography of Manhattan Island. Laning depicted the story of the recorded word across each of the murals. The first mural, to the left of the entrance to the Catalog Room, Moses...

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...

This building, formerly known as the New York County Courthouse, contains several large WPA murals. Most of the murals, including those in the vestibule and rotunda, were painted by Attilio Pusterla with the help of several assistants. Jury room 448, however, contains a series of 11 paintings by Robert K. Ryland depicting historical New York scenes. The subjects include Henry Hudson's ship, the Half-Moon; an early Indian settlement; Broad Street around 1660, and two panoramas of the city in the 18th century.

Two twelve-by-six-foot murals were painted by Mr. and Mrs. William Herbert Holston for the Newark Terminal (Administration Building) of 1935 under the auspices of the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The murals, shown in a contemporary WPA photograph, have been lost or destroyed. According to Newark's Star-Eagle: The first mural depicts Leonardo da Vinci gazing into space with his left hand raised, attempting to solve the mystery of flight. Seated at a table to his left is his student, Astro, head bowed, wearing useless wings. The second mural shows the "Kitty Hawk" in successful flight 40 years later ... Both murals combine...

"Between 1935 and 1937, Gorky painted ten large-scale murals on the theme of  aviation for the Newark Airport Administration Building. This mural cycle, known as Aviation: Evolution of Forms under Aerodynamic Limitations, was among the first modernist murals created and installed under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project. Although still engaged with the Cubist vocabulary of Picasso and Braque, the mechanized forms of these murals also reveal a debt to the work of Fernand Léger, especially his monumental 1919 painting The City, now in the Museum's collection. Léger's urban, machine-inspired imagery and vivid colors...

Michael Lenson painted "History of Newark" with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. It consists of 8 panels, each approx 6' h x 4' w. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six...

The four panels that make up "TVA Power" by Minna Citron were produced with the help of Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds and were moved from the old Post Office to the Museum in the 1970s.

The Federal Art Project (FAP) funded artist, Jaine Ahring, to create two murals for Newport Elementary School. Ahring created the oil-on-canvas murals Alice in Wonderland and Mother Goose in 1937. In The New Deal in Orange County, California (The History Press, 2014), Charles Epting writes, “Given the scarcity of New Deal public art in Orange County, Ahring’s paintings are quite remarkable” (p. 38). Alice in Wonderland depicts various characters from Lewis Carroll’s novel such as the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. Mother Goose depicts characters from tales such as the Cat and the Fiddle and Miss Little Bo Peep.  Both murals...

The Federal Arts Project funded two murals to be placed in Newport Harbor High School’s courtyard. These two mosaic murals made of unglazed colored body tile were "crafted from thousands of tiny tiles by Arthur Ames and his then-fiancee Jean Goodwin in 1937" (https://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/14/local/me-murals14). The mosaics are called Three Women Gathering at the Sea Shore and Three Fisherman. Each piece is nine by seven feet. Both are regional artworks having a focus on maritime themes. These artworks took more than sixteen months to finish - from design to completion. When the original Newport Harbor High School Building was torn down and rebuilt...

The Federal Arts Project (FAP) funded the Newton (now Newton North) High School Murals in Newton MA. Painted by Maurice Compris, the mural triptych depicts "Education," "Commerce," and "Industry." It was dedicated as a memorial to Leighton Brown, class of 1915, who died in World War I. Originally displayed in Newton High School library, moved to Newton North cafeteria, and now in the new Newton North building.

This mural "Town Meeting" was produced with WPA Federal Art Project funds and painted by Archibald J. Motley, Jr.

Artist Adrien Machefert painted a mural, "All Nations," at Ninth Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA. He was funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). "Adrien Machefert, a man past fifty, was born in San Jose, California, and started drawing for San Francisco newspapers at the age of seventeen. Following fourteen years doing portrait and landscape painting on the Island of Majorca, Mr. Machefert returned two and a half years ago to California and has since been working for FAP most of the time" (Wells, p. 22). Machefert's other New Deal–funded murals in the region include "Pilgrim's Harvest Festival" at Ann...

In 1937, artist Fletcher Martin painted a mural at North Hollywood High School in North Hollywood, CA. The mural, "Legends of the California Indians," was funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). The school "wanted a mural which related to the California scene and Indians. Mr. Martin felt that the usual themes had been overdone, so he sought out the legends of the people and chose from them the subject for his mural...." (Wells, p. 22). Martin ended up painting a Tataviam village. Located in a corner of the school auditorium, the mural was painted over in the 1950s. The Los...

The post office contains several Section of Fine Arts tempera murals painted by George Harding in 1939. The murals depict "Mail Delivery," "City," "Country," "Northern Coast," "Office," "Home," "Tropics," and "History of Mail Transportation by Water.

The historic Northgate Station post office housed an example of New Deal artwork: "Good Technique – Good Harvest," an oil-on-canvas mural by Victor Arnautoff. The work, which was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, was completed and installed in the post office lobby in 1938. Unfortunately, the mural is now missing.

From the New York Times: "The city of Norwalk, Conn., has one of the nation’s largest surviving collections of W.P.A. murals, thanks to a restoration effort in the 1980s that preserved nearly two dozen in the old Norwalk High School, now City Hall. The rescued artwork is on display there, while other murals decorate Norwalk Community College, the city’s public library and maritime aquarium, and other public places. Though many of the murals depict scenes from local history, several are more exotic: Five murals by an artist named Arthur G. Hull illustrate imagined scenes from the travels of Marco Polo. The...

"The city of Norwalk, Conn., has one of the nation’s largest surviving collections of W.P.A. murals, thanks to a restoration effort in the 1980s that preserved nearly two dozen in the old Norwalk High School, now City Hall. The rescued artwork is on display there, while other murals decorate Norwalk Community College, the city’s public library and maritime aquarium, and other public places. Though many of the murals depict scenes from local history, several are more exotic: Five murals by an artist named Arthur G. Hull illustrate imagined scenes from the travels of Marco Polo. The Hull murals are on permanent...

"The city of Norwalk, Conn., has one of the nation’s largest surviving collections of W.P.A. murals, thanks to a restoration effort in the 1980s that preserved nearly two dozen in the old Norwalk High School, now City Hall. The rescued artwork is on display there, while other murals decorate Norwalk Community College, the city’s public library and maritime aquarium, and other public places. Though many of the murals depict scenes from local history, several are more exotic: Five murals by an artist named Arthur G. Hull illustrate imagined scenes from the travels of Marco Polo. The Hull murals are on permanent...

"The city of Norwalk, Conn., has one of the nation’s largest surviving collections of W.P.A. murals, thanks to a restoration effort in the 1980s that preserved nearly two dozen in the old Norwalk High School, now City Hall. The rescued artwork is on display there, while other murals decorate Norwalk Community College, the city’s public library and maritime aquarium, and other public places. Though many of the murals depict scenes from local history, several are more exotic: Five murals by an artist named Arthur G. Hull illustrate imagined scenes from the travels of Marco Polo. The Hull murals are on permanent...