Democratic Art: The New Deal's Influence on American Culture
Sharon Ann Musher
Abstract
This work seeks to understand why the temporary flowering of government funding of the arts for needy artists and intellectuals during the Great Depression was both so robust and so fleeting. It outlines five views of art that became especially prominent at the time: art as grandeur, art as enrichment, art as a weapon, art as experience, and art as subversion. Classically-trained artists, architects, and urban planners, who since the early nineteenth century had held a monopoly on public art, continued to imagine a small cadre of artists using grand and monumental art and architecture to inspi ... More
This work seeks to understand why the temporary flowering of government funding of the arts for needy artists and intellectuals during the Great Depression was both so robust and so fleeting. It outlines five views of art that became especially prominent at the time: art as grandeur, art as enrichment, art as a weapon, art as experience, and art as subversion. Classically-trained artists, architects, and urban planners, who since the early nineteenth century had held a monopoly on public art, continued to imagine a small cadre of artists using grand and monumental art and architecture to inspire citizens. In contrast, the Treasury’s art administrators contended that government art should subsidize more diverse artists who were competitively selected to beautify public spaces with murals and sculptures that celebrated the nation. Artists on the left, many of whom were hired by the WPA’s arts projects for destitute artists, considered art a weapon that could engage citizens in political debates and efforts toward social change. Still other art administrators focused less on the lessons taught by finished works of art than on participation in the creative process. Ultimately, the federal art projects engendered a backlash, shifting the creative locus from public sponsorship to universities, museum, and other private organizations. By tracing the range of aesthetic visions that flourished during the 1930s and what New Deal art meant for its creators, administrators, and audiences, this work outlines the successes, shortcomings, and lessons of the golden age of government funding for the arts.
Keywords:
WPA,
Works Progress Administration,
Works Projects Administration,
new deal,
art,
great depression,
federal art project
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226247182 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: January 2016 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226247212.001.0001 |
