Depression Era Artists
By Jeanette Hendler
The WPA was an idea that artist George Biddle presented to his close friend and former classmate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Biddle was a talented and successful painter who came from the Biddle-Duke family with blueblood background. He felt the plight of the unfortunate and poor affected by the depression. Specifically, he asked President Roosevelt to begin a program for creative people who were in dire straights. The WPA program, also known as the Federal Project No. One, was initiated. It included many separate projects. Among the projects were separate divisions for art, music, theater, writing, dance, etc.
The WPA Artists Division had locations in major cities across the United States. Over 5,000 artists across the country were on the WPA Artists Project. Artists who wanted to participate in the WPA had to go through a rigid screening approval process. The artists submitted their work with any publicity, resume or exhibition records they had. They had to be professional, have good credentials and demonstrate a financial need before acceptance. On the basis of their qualifications, they received assignments. Only those in supervisory positions did not have to be financially needy. The heads of the various sections of the Artists Division were Burgoyne Diller for Murals, Girolamo Piccoli for Sculptors, Ernest Limbach and Gustave Von Groschwitz for Graphics and Alexander Stavenitz for the Teaching section. The section heads determined the artists eligiblity. There were assistant artists who aided the muralists or sculptors. There were models and framemakers, art restorers and publicists for the artists. There were also photographers such as Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans and Ben Shahn who developed their photography skills on the WPA Project. Artists were free to choose their own subject matter in every area, except the directly commissioned works such as murals.
Once they were accepted on the WPA Artists Project, they were allowed to transfer to and from the various divisions with approval of the division head. Most artists chose the easel, teaching, mural and printmaking division. Other popular areas were photography and posters.
Most of the members of the Artists Project were assigned to the easel section. The artists worked in their studios or residences. Weekly works of art were turned in to the WPA. This qualified them to receive a weekly stipend payment varying from $23.00 to $35.00. The works turned in to the WPA easel project ranged from figurative to abstraction, including surrealism and most other painting styles. They were primarily oil on canvas or board/masonite. Few artists worked on paper.
The teaching project across the United States made possible art classes for the masses. It exposed an entire generation to art. Art exhibitions were taking place where very little art had previously been seen. Some exhibitions were held in Federal Art Galleries that came into existence. Many of the art teachers went on to start their own art schools at the end of the WPA. Over two million students attended WPA art classes in community centers and neighborhood houses.
The mural project produced many thousands of murals and the sculpture project also placed large amounts of works. Many specific sculptures were also commissioned. The largest volume of work was produced by the easel, poster and printmaking projects. Some of this work was also placed in public places. However, the majority of the paintings, prints and posters were turned in to the WPA, as the rules required. As the artists turned in works weekly and waited on line to receive their stipend, many had stated that the waiting line offered the artists an opportunity to socialize with and meet one another.
When the government decided to terminate the WPA, artists who showed up that day to collect their stipend, were first told about the termination. There was no warning or notification. As stated by many artists, they scrambled to try to find their or their friends artwork, since the government told them that it was being "thrown away" and discarded. Most of the art was just thrown on the sidewalk or purchased in bulk by the junk dealers.
Depite the unfortunate way the WPA and the government dealt with the artists work at the conclusion of the WPA, many positive results ensued. The artists were able to subsist during the depression. Many artists gained experience, their careers went forward and lifetime friendships began during the WPA. The general public became exposed to the works of art through the exhibitions, the schools of art and the public institutions that displayed their murals, sculpture and other works.
Approximately twenty-five years after the WPA ended, the United States Government established the National Endowment for the Arts. The government authorized one hundred million dollars to be spent yearly on the arts in the United States. Inasmuch as the WPA’s total budget for the eight years of its existence was only thirty-five million dollars, there has always been an open door for considerable discussion due to the disparity of the figures. A lot is learned about 1930’s and 1940’s when we study the art produced at the time of the WPA. We learn from and see where all of the subsequent art movements such as abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism and graffiti art emerged.
