New Deal Art

What role should the arts play in a democracy? At the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal turned crisis into opportunity. Through unprecedented federal funding for the arts, the New Deal launched the careers of artists such as Philip Guston, Dorothea Lange, Jacob Lawrence, Alice Neel, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. They belonged to the era's bold vision of cultural democracy: art by the people, for the people.

Brimming with vivid images and stories, New Deal Art offers a dynamic survey of this transformative period. The book highlights a diverse generation of artists who challenged dominant narratives of American history and identity. Through state-sponsored murals, paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and posters, these artists redefined the role of art in society. They formed the first Artists' Union and fought fascism through collective action. They reimagined art as a public good rather than a private luxury.

New Deal Art confronts issues relevant today: freedom and censorship, race and representation, art and activism, politics and propaganda. In an era of dwindling public arts funding, the New Deal's goal of broadening access to art and culture remains as urgent as ever.

John P. Murphy is the Philip and Lynn Straus curator of prints and drawings at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. He co-curated the award-winning exhibition The Left Front: Radical Art in the 'Red Decade, ' 1929-1940 (The Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University) and is currently collaborating with the Philadelphia Museum of Art on an exhibition exploring Depression-era prints and politics in the United States.