Art Works Sites

Ernest Kasas painted the mural titled "The Gift Of The Book To Mankind" at the East Chicago Public Library. While sources attribute the work to the Federal Art Project, the date (1934-35) is too early for that program; so it is probable that the work was actually commissioned under the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). The history and characteristics of the mural are described by the East Chicago Public Library: "The mural on the back wall over the Reference Desk at the Pastrick Branch was painted by Ernest Kasas of Indiana Harbor (East Chicago), as a WPA (The Works Progress Administration) Arts...

Hugh Weller painted these murals in 1934, with funds provided by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). The murals, depicting Marco Polo's journey to China, are viewable in the library of East High School, over the main entrance.

The New Deal mural "Fairy Tale Scenes," painted by Carrie Hill, was commissioned by the Federal Art Project. The work, which is installed in the children's room at Birmingham's East Lake Branch Library, was restored in 1993.

The post office originally held an earlier version of this mural entitled "Post Ride," funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and painted in 1936 by Paul Grellert. During renovation of the post office in the 60's the mural was destroyed. Mr Grellert fortunately was able to paint a recreation of the original mural. The only difference is that in the original, the horse was white.

The museum contains four murals by Xavier Gonzalez: "Pioneer Saga," "Music of the Plains," "Contemporary Youth" and "Drilling for Oil." They were painted with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds in 1941 and moved from the post office to the East Texas Oil Museum in 1999.

Artist Caspar Duchow created four 4' x 6' mosaics depicting animals for the East Whittier Middle School: "Hippos," "Waterfowl," "Tropical Birds" and "Monkey." The mosaics were created in 1937 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.

Artist Theodore Hussa, Jr. of Burlington, VT painted four murals for the Eastern States Exposition, with support from the Works Progress Administration Arts Project. Each mural depicts a major Vermont industry: Recreeation; Quarrying; Dairying; and Sugaring. Each murals measures 5' wide by 8' tall and is painted in "oil on special material." They were to be installed in Vermont Pavilion at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, MA, in September 1941. Their present whereabouts is unknown. A 1941 Burlington Free Press and Times article reads, "Gov. William H. Willis and Pierre Zwick, director of the Vermont art project of the  WPA, are shown...

This statue, entitled "Nuestra Reina de los Angeles" ("Our Queen of the Angels") but known colloquially as "The Lady of the Lake," was made in 1934 by Ada May Sharpless with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Rendered in poured concrete, it stands 14' tall at the north end of the lake on a small peninsula. The damaged statue was put into storage on site in 1986, and after restoration reinstalled in 1999.

Artist Lorser Feitelson painted a mural in three panels at Edison Middle School in Los Angeles, CA. He was funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). "The central panel pictures the great inventor and some of his contributions. On the left are Edison's predecessors, Farraday , Henry, and Maxwell, and their original instruments, together with an allegory showing the genii of the new knowledge, aroused to create the electrification of the modern world. On the right are the developments growing out of Edison's electrical improvements and the men who contributed to the conquest of time and space in the long-distance...

Stanton Macdonald-Wright designed the mosaic "Early (Spanish) California" for Edison Middle School in Los Angeles, CA, in 1937. It was funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) and hangs in the school auditorium's foyer. Albert King likely executed the tile work. The mosaic depicts vaqueros wrangling cows, miners panning for gold, and workers building a railroad. A “Californio” couple stands in the center of the image. Tiles of different shapes give the mosaic a variety of textures. Macdonald-Wright was supervisor for the Southern California division of the FAP from 1935 to 1943. He is considered “an important proponent of the nonrepresentational styles of...

The Edward Gould recreation center in Dobbs Ferry, New York received a  New Deal mural, commissioned by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), in 1934. The location and status of this work is unknown to Living New Deal.

Tom E. Lewis painted this mural "Forest Genetics" in 1941 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. As the result of building renovations, the mural is no longer viewable in public view.

This forest scene oil on canvas mural "Forest Genetics" by Tom E. Lewis was painted with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It was installed when the building was the Placerville Post Office. Due to renovations, the mural is now not in public view.

"This private old hotel has a variety of art work in lobby areas including large murals created by Manville Chapman in 1939 and 6 others done later by his student, Willie Warder, another WPA Project artist. The hotel housed the original WPA Project office for the region and was the location of WPA-supported art classes. This historic hotel is reminiscent of a period when railroad and mining workers boarded in hotel rooms routinely. Paintings and memorabilia are fascinating. The El Portal Hotel suffered a devastating fire in 2009, losing the northern part of the hotel. Until renovations on the remaining rooms are...

Hugo Ballin painted a mural, "Rudimentary Education," at El Rodeo Elementary School in Beverly Hills, CA. Completed in 1934, the mural was funded by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and—upon termination of the PWAP—the Federal and State Emergency Relief Administrations (FERA/SERA). The mural is oil on plaster and approximately 1500 square feet. "Ballin traced his design on to the wall for assistants to complete and included several symbolic references. Towards the top was the Egyptian figure of Set, inventor of numbers, and below him, Tubal-Cain, the ancient metal worker. In the center was a scene of a teacher...

Bridgeport's Normal School received one or more murals under the WPA's Federal Art Project. The City Normal School was part of Grammar School No. 3, which was later renamed the Elias Howe School. The Elias Howe School still stands today, but is unused. The fate of the WPA murals is unknown.

As of 2009, this 1938 WPA mural by William Palmer entitled "The Development of Medicine" is located in the Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. It may have originally been installed in the Queens General Hospital (now the Queens Hospital Center). According to a 1964 interview with the artist: "It was stated in a recent book on the WPA - that the panel Controlled Medicine was in effect a plea for and propaganda for socialized medicine. This statement is without any basis of fact, and the author never contacted me for my analysis panel. To put the record straight - the mural Development...

"Experimenting with the First Model of the Cotton Gin" was painted by Edna Reindel with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for what was then the local post office. The post office has since been incorporated into the Emanuel County Court House. Viewing can be arranged through the County Clerk's office.

"The CWA also supported the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a six-month project that was a precursor to later New Deal arts projects. PWAP resulted in only a few works in Wyoming, one of which was the creation of a mural and decorative frieze adorning the library in McCormick Junior High School in Cheyenne. ... Local sign painter Frank Stuart Lewis painted a decorative frieze in the library, comprised of famous personages in Wyoming history." The former McCormick Junior High School facility in downtown Cheyenne is now known as the Emerson Building.

"The CWA also supported the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a six-month project that was a precursor to later New Deal arts projects. PWAP resulted in only a few works in Wyoming, one of which was the creation of a mural and decorative frieze adorning the library in McCormick Junior High School in Cheyenne. Two Cheyenne artists, Libbie Hoffman and Jeanette Kaiser, painted the mural." "The mural portrays an episode from the lore of frontier Wyoming — the reading of Shakespeare's work to Scout Jim Bridger. Bridger is reputed to have traded a yoke of oxen for a volume of...

"The Emma Hart Willard Memorial, is a public artwork by designed by Pierre Zwick and Marion Guild and sculpted by T.A. Campbell who worked for the Houlihan Shop in Rutland, Vermont. Erected in 1941, the memorial is located in a triangular-shaped park at the intersection of route 125 and route 7 in downtown Middlebury, Vermont... The sculpture was designed and sculpted with funding from the Federal Arts Project, and erected with funding from the Works Progress Administration. Since its dedication in 1941, the Emma Willard Memorial has been maintained by the Daughters of the American Revolution and is presently administered by...

"The Art Gallery, also on the second floor" of the main branch of the Erie Public Library housed, among other works, "Two interesting paintings by Harry Klopp, done under the WPA Federal Art Project, are Robin Hood and The Pied Piper of Hamlin." The library has since relocated, and the current status of the paintings is unknown to Living New Deal.

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. ..." "Three of Mr. Lenson's New Jersey murals still exist, all in Newark... The three other New Jersey murals are gone. ''The History of New Jersey,'' a 16-by-75-foot mural for the dining room at the Essex Mountain Sanatorium in...

This 1940 oil on canvas "Autumn Wisconsin Landscape" by Ethel Spears was originally painted for the Hartford post office. It is now located in the Schauer Arts & Activities Center.

"In 1928, Clarence Hatzfeld, a member of the park board and architect of many northwest side recreational, commercial, and residential buildings, designed a Tudor Revival-style fieldhouse for the park. A stone grotto and fountain originally graced the front of the fieldhouse. Inside, a Federal Works Progress Administration artist created a mural entitled "The Participation of Youth in the Realm of the Arts.""

An enormous mural called The Evolution of Western Civilization is located in the library of the former Evander Childs High School. The Federal Arts Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned the mural cycle in 1935 and it was completed in 1938. It is true fresco, rather than a painting, and covers 1,400 square feet.   (https://newdeal.feri.org) A film made by the WPA depicts the creation of the mural by artist James Michael Newell, aided by students at the high school. It can be viewed on the Living New Deal video page. The murals have generated significant controversy over the years, as discussed in...

In 1937 Romuald Kraus completed this sculpture entitled "Alma Mater" for Evander Childs High School with funding from the WPA's Federal Art Project (Archives of American Art).

This cast stone sculpture by Donal Hord was funded by the PWAP in 1934. The sculpture depicts a man crouching behind a wheel filled with gears and is variously known as "Man and the Wheel" or "Wheel of Industry" or "Man and the Machine." The sculpture's dimensions are 6'8" height x 5'6" width x 4' deep, and the base is 4'h x 5'w x 4'd. The piece seems to have originally been made for the museum in Exposition Park. It is currently in storage: "The sculpture was constructed as part of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). It may have been...

This limestone sculpture "Flood Control" by Karl Lang was created for the F. Edward Herbert Federal Building with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds.  It still graces the southeastern corner of the building.

This marble eagle statue  -- one of four at the entrances to the F. Edward Herbert Federal Building -- was produced with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds by Gifford Proctor.

This limestone sculpture "Harvesting Sugar Cane" by Armin Scheler was created for the F. Edward Hebert Federal Building and paid for with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It still graces the northeastern flank of the building.

The oil-on-canvas mural "Texas of History," a ten-panel behemoth, each 30' x 80', was painted by Eugene Francis Savage as a New Deal project.

In 1939, Rex Sorenson sculpted two 12-foot stone sculptures of Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington for Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, CA. Each was mounted on a three-to-four foot pedestal. Both sculptures were subsequently destroyed.

The Fairport Historical Museum houses an example of New Deal artwork commissioned by the federal Works Progress Administration. "In 1937, Rochester’s WPA art project was called "the most interesting and effective outside of New York City” by the regional director of the Federal Art Project. Rochester’s model program—hosted and administered by the Memorial Art Gallery—funded several mural groups by the artist Carl W. Peters." (https://mag.rochester.edu/murals/) "The Fairport Library building was constructed under the WPA and is now home to the Perinton Historical Society. When Peters received the commission in 1938 to paint a mural for the building, it was brand new. Fairport...

This 11'5" x 11'2" mural "Landscape With Children" was painted by Florian Durzynski under the auspices of the WPA's Federal Art Project.

John Palo-Kangas created a 14-foot concrete sculpture of Father Junipero Serra in 1937 for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The sculpture stood for more than 50 years until it was replaced in 1989. Wilbur Robottom created a 3,000-pound bronze copy to take the place of the decaying concrete original. Originally located in a place of prominence in park triangle in front of Ventura's city hall, the statue was removed in July 2020 and placed by the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in downtown Ventura in February 2024. It is located by the southeast corner of the elementary...

The Price UT Municipal Building contains an exceptional cycle of New Deal murals in the foyer of the public auditorium. The murals are four feet high and circle around the upper wall for about 200 feet  (800 square feet of painting).   Lynn Fausett, a well-known Utah artist and native of Price, was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project (FAP) to paint the murals, starting in 1938. It took him three years to complete the work. Fausett painted other New Deal murals around Utah, including those in the State Capitol. The murals depict the history and industry of Carbon...

Originally built as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse and now the Federal Building and Courthouse, the building was completed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project with Treasury Department funding in 1935. "Commissioned by the Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts, eight murals painted by artist and Cornell University art professor Kenneth Leland Washburn (1904-1989) on the lobby's upper walls depict scenes pertaining to local agriculture, industry, transportation, and the U.S. mail service." (www.gsa.gov) Kenneth Washburn Modern Worker In Industry & Agriculture Modern & Ancient Methods Of Communication Communication By Earth, Water, & Air Thrift & Postal Savings System 1938 Oil on canvas: 57” x 58” each Installed...

The historic former Federal Building and Post Office in Phoenix, Arizona houses examples of New Deal artwork. In 1937 the U.S. Treasury’s Section of Fine Arts commissioned artist La Verne Nelson Black to create two murals for the east wing of the post office, respectively entitled "Historical Background" and "Progress of the Pioneer." The murals present images of Anglo-American settlement and industrialization. Black moved with his family to Phoenix for health reasons and focused his painting and sculpture on the historic West and Native Americans. Another three murals funded by the Section were painted by Oscar Berninghaus. They hang in...

Jacob Getlar Smith painted three oil-on-canvas murals for the Main Street Maude R. Toulson Federal Building and Post Office in 1939:  "Salisbury," “Stage at Byrd’s Inn” and “Cotton Patch.” From an onsite plaque: “Jacob Getlar Smith was born February 3, 1898 in New York City, and died there in October 1958. He studied at the National Academy of Design in New York, as well as independently in Europe. He exhibited at institutions around the country, including the Carnegie Institute, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Virginia Museum of...