New Deal Art (World of Art)

How should we understand the history and legacy of the New Deal art programs today? Marshalling new scholarship and original research, New Deal Art highlights the contributions of a diverse range of women, immigrant, working class, Indigenous, Black, Asian, Jewish, Latinx artists. While previous studies have focused on the personalities and politics of government administrators, this book offers a 'history from below' that stresses the role of artists as activists through collective efforts such as the Artists Union and the American Artists Congress. It explores topics that traditionally fall outside the purview of art history: art as therapy in prisons and hospitals, children’s art, community art centres and art education, and the place of handicrafts and applied arts. Above all, New Deal Art centres the question of art and democracy: What if art was treated as a natural resource to which all citizens had an equal right?