New Deal Art

A vibrant and insightful account of the diverse artists and activists who made up the New Deal art programs and the influential legacy of the artwork they left behind.

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, Jac...