: Past Exhibitions A New Deal: Art of the Great Depression April
6–June 17, 2012 MMA Pacific Street The Works Progress
Administration (WPA) was a Federal program designed to put vast
numbers of the unemployed to work during the Great Depression of
the 1930’s. This recovery act brought forth by President
Franklin Roosevelt, coined “The New Deal,” organized public
works efforts that included construction of public buildings,
roads, arts and literacy projects. Local artists had the
opportunity to create artworks in public spaces which depicted
the social-political atmosphere of the time. Perseverance and
determination, with hopes of resolution, are often illustrated
with men and women at work set in urban and rural scenes.
Landscapes reference the result of community collaboration, as
multiple building structures or farm crops rise up and wind
around newly constructed roads, implying a fertile and
progressive future. A New Deal: Art of the Great Depression,
will display a series of powerful lithographs, etchings