New Deal Art (e-book) (used book) | John P Murphy | bookbook.eu

Description

Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victory in the 1932 US presidential election gave him a mandate to institute a "New Deal" for American citizens navigating the Great Depression and by doing so offer them "a more abundant life." During the decade between 1933 and 1943, the New Deal art programs marked the largest federal investment in the arts in the history of the country. Tens of thousands of artists and artisans across the United States produced some 2,500 murals, 100,000 easel paintings, 17,000 sculptures, and 200,000 prints.

How should we understand the history and legacy of the New Deal art programs today? Marshaling new scholarship and original research, New Deal Art highlights the contributions of a diverse range of women, immigrant, working class, Indigenous, Black, Asian, Jewish, Latino, and LGBTQ+ artists. While previous studies have focused on the personalities and politics of government administrators, this book offers a "history from below" that stresses the role of artists as activists through collective efforts such as the Artists Union and the American Artists' Congress. It explores topics that traditionally fall outside the purview of art history: art as therapy in prisons and hospitals, children's art, community art centers and art education, and the place of handicrafts and applied arts. Above all, New Deal Art explores the question of art and democracy: What if art was treated as a natural resource to which all citizens had an equal right?