Artists at Work - A Film on the New Deal Art Projects

Streaming video - 1981

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933 during the Great Depression, nearly 10,000 artists were out of work. Over the next decade, a series of programs known as the New Deal Art Projects was developed. Under the WPA and other programs, thousands of artists were able to earn a living while devoting themselves full-time to their art.. "ARTISTS AT WORK" focuses on the visual arts programs of the New Deal, highlighting the impact on the lives and work of American artists. Interviews with Ilya Bolotowsky, James Brooks, Joseph Delaney, Harry Gottlieb, Chaim Gross, Lee Krasner, Edward Laning, Jacob Lawrence, Alice Neel, and Joseph Solman are included, along with archival film, photographs, sound recordings, and original ...color photography of the works of art.. Artists at Work chronicles the New Deal effort to spread "art to the millions" through the country's first comprehensive art education program. The Artists Union and related political activities are explored, as are the destruction and loss of works of art produced under the New Deal Programs.. more