Art in Every Corner: The Works Progress Administration (1935-1943)

The devastating stock market crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in the history of the United States. At the height of the Depression in 1933, nearly 13 million people—roughly 25 percent of the workforce—were unemployed. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created an economic relief program known as the New Deal to offer employment to struggling Americans. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federally funded agency, hired some ten thousand artists to produce work for public buildings and traveling exhibitions as part of the Federal Art Project (FAP). “I, too, have a dream—to show people in the out of the way places, some of whom are not only in small villages but in corners of New York City—something they cannot get from between the covers of books—some real paintings and prints and etchings and some real music.” Franklin Roosevelt to Hendrik Willem Van Loon, January 6, 1938 From coast to coast, the WPA supported artists who created paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and murals for the American public. These artists drew on their everyday experiences as they depicted their own communities in a wide range of locations from urban centers to rural outposts. The WPA employed such established figures as John Steuart Curry as well as newcomers like Jacob Lawrence, providing materials, community, and income at a critical moment in their careers. After the WPA was closed in 1943, works of art produced under federal sponsorship were allocated to institutions across the country, including what is today the Blanton Museum of Art. The museum’s allotment serves as the basis for Art in Every Corner and is displayed in the context of pieces made by WPA artists before or after their periods of federal employment, encouraging an exploration and celebration of the dynamic impact of the WPA’s programs on artists who represented every corner of American life during the 1930s and ’40s. Artists featured in Art in Every Corner: The Works Progress Administration (1935-1943) include Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry, Dorothea Lange, Jacob Lawrence, Rockwell Kent, Paul Cadmus, and Walker Evans. Curated by Sarah Bane, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, Blanton Museum of Art with Anna Smith, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Prints and Drawings This events runs from May 2, 2026, 10:00am to Sep 27, 2026, 5:00pm Timezone: Central Time (US & Canada)