- State:
- WASHINGTON-DC
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Sculpture and Bas Relief
- New Deal Agencies:
- Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA), Arts Programs, Federal & Military Operations, Treasury Department
- Completed:
- 1941
- Artists:
- Richard Barthe, Robert Kittredge
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Wilbur J. Cohen building, originally built for the Social Security Administration in 1938-1940, is home to a magnificent collection of social security themed artworks funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.
One of the artworks is a sculpture, “American Eagle,” by noted African American artist and sculptor, Richmond Barthé (1940).
The Social Security Administration never occupied the building, which was turned over to the War Department in 1941. After the war, the Federal Security Agency (FSA), under which the Social Security Board had been placed in 1939, moved into the building. In 1953, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, succeeded the FSA and subsequently became part of the Department of Health and Human Services in 1980. In 1988, the building was renamed in honor of Wilbur J. Cohen, the first employee of the Social Security Board and later Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.
Source notes
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/barthe-richmond-1901-1988/
Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on December 4, 2011.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
At this Location:
- Cohen Federal Building (former Social Security) - Washington DC
- Cohen Federal Building: Guston Fresco - Washington DC
- Cohen Federal Building: Shahn Frescoes - Washington DC
- Cohen Federal Building: Fogel Murals - Washington DC
- Cohen Federal Building: Davis Reliefs - Washington DC
- Cohen Federal Building: Kreis Reliefs - Washington DC
- Cohen Federal Building: Other Murals - Washington DC
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Dr Wendy Mariner
How to view a picture of the “American Eagle” by Richard Barthe (1940) on the Department of Health and Human Services (formerly Social Security) Building in Washington, DC?