Public Works of Art Project
The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal work-relief program that employed professional artists to create sculptures, paintings, crafts and design for public buildings and parks during the Great Depression in the United States. The program operated from December 8, 1933, to May 20, 1934, administered by Edward Bruce under the United States Treasury Department, with funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
Negro Mother and Child (1934) by Maurice Glickman, commissioned by PWAP and installed at the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building in 1940 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | December 8, 1933 |
| Dissolved | May 20, 1934 |
| Parent agency | United States Department of the Treasury |
Although the program lasted less than one year, it had employed 3,749 artists, who produced 15,663 works of art. In an art exhibition that featured 451 paintings commissioned by the PWAP, 30 percent of the artists featured were in their twenties, and 25 percent were first-generation immigrants. The PWAP served as way to employ artists, while having competent representatives of the profession create work for display work in a public setting. According to one news report at the PWAP show at MoMA, "The artists selected for the program were chosen on the basis of their artistic qualifications and their need of employment. The subject assigned to them was the American scene in all its phases."