Description: Original description reads: "Panel depicting tropical undersea life, one of a series of six, representing various stages of organic evolution, painted in the spring of 1936 by the W.P.A. Federal Art Project of Dayton, Ohio. These panels, 35" x 30" and executed in oils will be framed by a class in Manual Training and presented to the schools in the fall of 1936." The Federal Art Project (FAP) was the visual arts arm of the Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration. On April 8, 1935, the United States Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, which was hoped would allow Americans to cope with the Great Depression. Creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was the most important accomplishment of this Act. This government office hired unemployed Americans to work on various government projects. During its existence, the WPA constructed more than 600,000 miles of roads and built or repaired more than 124,000 bridges, 125,000 public buildings, 8,000 parks, and 850 airport runways. The WPA also included programs to support education and the arts, providing employment opportunities for out of work educators and artists of all varieties. Although the United States Congress reduced funding for the program in 1939, the WPA remained in operation until June 30, 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F09_018_001
Subjects: Painting--Ohio--Dayton; Evolution (Biology)--Pictorial works--Ohio--Dayton; Federal Art Project; United States. Works Progress Administration
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)