Santos Zingale, "The Thing", 1938, Works Progress Administration
The present economic recession invites us to re-examine artworks created 70 years ago during the similarly harsh financial climate of the Great Depression. Open through April 18, 2010, "Great Art from Tough Times: Wisconsin WPA Artworks in RAM’s Collection" features pieces that form an accurate record of the tough economic times and everyday life of the 1930s. Coinciding with the annual "Watercolor Wisconsin" competition currently on display at RAM’s Wustum Museum, the show also serves as a reminder of the generations of painters who preceded, inspired and taught our contemporary Wisconsin artists.
During the Great Depression, unemployment reached a staggering 25%. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, inaugurated in 1933, established the precedent that the Federal Government would take responsibility for the welfare of its citizens during the crisis. In 1935, Congress created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Through the WPA, unemployed people of all abilities were paid to use their skills to benefit society. Under the WPA, people were employed for public works projects, such as constructing roads, bridges and hiking trails in parks.
Artists were particularly affected by the Depression. As economic hardship eliminated discretionary income, commissioned projects, teaching positions and sales disappeared. Roosevelt and the WPA administration realized the important role that the arts could have in bolstering the country’s spirit. At a time when the arts were not considered part of popular education, supporting the arts through Government funding was revolutionary. Some WPA artists painted murals in public spaces, including schools and post offices. Other artists were commissioned to create individual works that the US government placed in public collections across the country. The program nurtured the careers of artists, such as Willem De Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Jacob Lawrence and Jackson Pollock, who achieved international prominence in the decades following their participation. The same was true in Wisconsin. Some of the Wisconsin WPA artists featured in this exhibition, including Max Fernekes, Edmund D. Lewandowski, Schomer Lichtner and Robert Schellin, had respected careers as teachers and full-time artists thanks in part to their participation in the program.
Like the more timely American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the WPA program was not without controversy. Although its original intent was to feed artists rather than create great works of the art, what emerged from the WPA program was a legacy of serious documentation of the work of regional artists for future generations.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
