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A nexus and database for thinking about art, history, time and occupation.

Entries in art in action (1)

Monday
Jan232012

Art in action: American Art Centers and the New Deal

By John Franklin White

Few Americans can recall when they first saw an original work of art. Today we take such things for granted. But this was not always the case in America, and that is what this book is all about. The importance of art in the lives of Americans was certainly not an unwelcome idea to the early leaders of the American republic and somehow the arts were always essential in American life and custom. But if a thread of federal patronage for the arts has always been present and visible, it has not always been thick in the woven cloth of the people. In the 1930s, the circumstances of the American depression resulted in the largest public programs for art in history and greatly increased the opportunity for personal experiences with creativity. Federal programs were intent upon spreading and developing the cultural wealth of America, and the art centers of the New Deal were at the heart of the matter.