Sunday, October 15, 2017

New Deal Hard Times Art (1/10): "Buried Treasure"

Above: "Buried Treasure," a crayon lithograph by Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), created while she was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1939. According to the Brier Hill Art Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, "During the Depression, Dwight produced a series of powerful anti-fascist works and, as a participant in the Federal Arts Project, she created twenty-five lithographs dealing with social matters." Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Above: During the New Deal, there were several initiatives to alleviate hunger: CCC boys got three square meals a day at their barracks and work sites; the WPA served hot lunches to underprivileged children; and the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation (FSCC) distributed food & food items to those in need. The U.S. Food Stamp program also had its genesis in the New Deal, managed by the FSCC. The two stamps you see here were used in that program. Image scanned from personal collection.

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