Norwalk's Collection of WPA Era Art (Works Progess

ISBN: 0971347603

Author: Norwalk Transit District

Condition: New

Norwalk, Connecticut owns the third largest collection of WPA art in the U.S. A sampling of these murals is on view every day at Norwalk City Hall. Established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the mid 1930's as a response to the Great Depression, the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration's mission was to take 3.5 million people off of relief and put them to work. Within a year some 5,000 artists were busy on WPA projects. During the eight year span of the project, the government's New Deal for artist never employed more than 20 percent of the nations artists and art teachers. These paid-by-the-hour craftspeople produced an astonishing array of work. Of all the WPA art projects, murals constituted the smallest part of the effort. Just 2,566 murals were painted for public buildings. Most have since been lost or destroyed. Some painted over. Others disappeared. In Norwalk, the community's murals were rescued. Many are displayed in this book.