Confronting the Legacy of New Deal Art in the Twenty-First Century

At the height of the Great Depression, a five-month pilot program called the Public Works of Art Project (December 1933 - May 1934) initiated an unprecedented era of federal work-relief for unemployed artists. Producing over 15,000 works, its success led to artists being hired by other federal public works programs (WPA/FAP, PWA, CCC, etc.), which collectively funded hundreds of thousands of additional artworks alongside art classes, films, exhibitions, archives, and other affiliated projects. Ninety years later, the New Deal legacy continues to impact many fields and organizations represented by members of the College Art Association, encouraging critical self-reflection in the fields of American art practice, art history, and art education. This panel invites papers that explore the downstream history of unprecedented 1930s federal art sponsorship, particularly what followed from both the strides toward greater equity and inclusion that New Deal art programs fostered and the powerful individuals and institutions that resisted creating a more inclusive labor force in American art. Papers on timely topics are welcome, for instance: 1) ideological conflicts within the New Deal era, their complex legacies, and impact on twenty-first-century artists, historians, and educators, 2) examinations of histories and historiography that reflect erasure or suppression of New Deal art and its diversity, 3) controversies involving New Deal art (e.g., its subject matter, censorship, privatization, sale, neglect, and/or destruction), 4) ongoing challenges and legal disputes related to fair use or permissions to study, capture, and reproduce images of New Deal art preserved within federal and non-federal sites.