A Painting From FDR s Program To Get Artists Back To Work
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The crash of the stock market on October 29th, 1929 ushered in an era of severe economic decline across the United States. In an effort to support those in need, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 created the Works Progress Administration, a program that endeavored to aid artists by putting them back to work.
The Graphic Arts Division of the program was among the most active, employing over 790 artists across the country. By far the largest was the workshop in New York City, which is estimated to have produced around 75,000 prints.