The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

. Commonly known as the Section, it was renamed the Section of Fine Arts in 1939. Its primary mission was the embellishment of public buildings — including many United States post offices — through site-specific murals and sculptures commissioned on a competitive basis. The program all but ceased to operate in 1942, and was officially terminated on July 15, 1943.

Overview

Like the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA), the Section was part of a government project aimed at providing work for Americans throughout the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

during the 1930s. The Section's main function was to select high-quality art to decorate public buildings in the form of

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

, making art accessible to all people. Because post offices were usually visited by everyone, they were the places selected to display these projects. Commissioned artists were provided with the guidelines and themes for each project, and scenes of local interest and events were generally represented. The muralist movement was inspired by the Mexican muralists, but Section murals did not portray the harsh social or economic realities of the time. Rather, they celebrated historical events and courageous acts. Many of these murals have disappeared, or fallen into disrepair, and others have been restored thanks to renewed interest in their historical and artistic significance. Painters of these murals include Ralf Henricksen,

Henrietta Shore Henrietta Mary Shore (January 22, 1880 – May 17, 1963) was a Canadian-born artist who was a pioneer of modernism. She lived a large part of her life in the United States, most notably California. Early life Shore was born in Toronto, Canada, to ...

, and

Suzanne Scheuer Suzanne Scheuer (1898 – 1984) was an American fine artist, best known for her New Deal-era murals. She painted one of the murals in Coit Tower, ''Newsgathering''. Biography Suzanne Scheuer was born in San Jose, California on February 11 ...

. In existence during the Great Depression in the United States, the Section of Painting and Sculpture was a public-art program administered by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department as part of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. Like other New Deal public-art programs, the Section (as it was commonly called) was designed to increase employment among artists, but it was unusual in awarding commissions competitively, based on artistic talent. In total, the Section commissioned more than 1,300 murals and 300 sculptures, many of which were placed in

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

s throughout the United States.

Creation

The Section was created in 1934 and led by

Edward Bruce Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick ( Norman French: ; mga, Edubard a Briuis; Modern Scottish Gaelic: gd, Eideard or ; – 14 October 1318), was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306–1314 st ...

. Bruce had also led the Treasury Department's

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...

, the first federal art program, created in 1933 after American painter

George Biddle George Biddle (January 24, 1885 – November 6, 1973) was an American painter, muralist and lithographer, best known for his social realism and combat art. A childhood friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he played a major role in establi ...

suggested the idea to President Roosevelt. Other federal art programs followed, including the

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

(created in 1935 by the WPA, an independently operating federal agency) and the

Treasury Relief Art Project The Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) was a New Deal arts program that commissioned visual artists to provide artistic decoration for existing Federal buildings during the Great Depression in the United States. A project of the United States ...

(created in 1935 with funds granted by the WPA to the Treasury Department).History of New Deal Art Projects
Retrieved May 18, 2008. The Section of Painting and Sculpture was renamed as the Section of Fine Arts in 1939 and operated until 1942. The Section’s primary objective was to "secure suitable art of the best quality available for the embellishment of public buildings." Artworks created under the Section of Fine Arts were site-specific murals and sculptures for newly constructed federal buildings and post offices. About 1% of the costs of each new federal building was set aside to fund the program. Despite being categorized as “work-relief,” Section of Fine Arts commissions were chosen by anonymous competition and awarded government contracts “as in any other government job.” Between 1934 and 1938, the Section awarded 375 contracts worth $537,000.

Art

Unlike the other New Deal art programs, the Section awarded commissions through competitions and paid artists a lump sum for their work. Competitions were open to all artists, regardless of economic status, and artists' proposals were reviewed without identifying the name of the artist who had made the submission. The Section sought entries that reflected local interests and events, and the Section encouraged the artists to think of the communities, not the Section, as the artists' "patron." Indeed, artists awarded commissions were encouraged to visit the community to ensure that their murals reflected the community. Although many of the artists did not make such visits, artists commonly corresponded with the town (as well as the Post Office Department and the Section). Some local communities rejected the approved designs, and the artists would work to respond to these concerns and save their commissions. The program also encouraged artists to reflect the building’s function. For example, the now-

William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building is a complex of several historic buildings located in the Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C., across 12th Street, NW from the Old Post Office Building (Washington, D.C.), Old Post Office. The complex ...

, constructed in the early 1930s as the headquarters for the U.S. Post Office Department and one of the first buildings to receive works of art under this program, contains 25 murals created with support from the Section intended to depict the history of mail delivery and the settlement of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. These murals have been the subject of complaints about stereotypes of women, Native Americans, African Americans, and rural Americans, which were addressed by the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

. File:Country-Post-Ariel-Rios.jpg, ''Country Post'' (1938), mural by

Doris Lee Doris Emrick Lee (February 1, 1905 – June 16, 1983) was an American painter known for her figurative painting and printmaking. She won the Logan Medal of the Arts from the Chicago Art Institute in 1935. She is known as one of the most successfu ...

for the Clinton Federal Building File:Inspecting nickel designs crop.jpg,

(left) and

Nellie Tayloe Ross Nellie Davis Tayloe Ross (November 29, 1876 – December 19, 1977) was an American educator and politician who served as the 14th governor of Wyoming from 1925 to 1927, and as the 28th and first female director of the United States Mint from 193 ...

of the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

inspect candidates for the design of the new

Jefferson nickel The Jefferson nickel has been the five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint since 1938, when it replaced the Buffalo nickel. From 1938 until 2004, the copper-nickel coin's obverse featured a profile depiction of founding father and third U ...

, a competition conducted by the Section (1938) File:FWA-PBA-Paintings and Sculptures for Public Buildings-bas relief of three figures, Indian, man bending over to pick... - NARA - 195803.tif, ''Messengers'' (1938), terracotta relief by Humbert Albrizio for the

United States Post Office (Hamilton, New York) US Post Office-Hamilton is a historic post office building located at Hamilton in Madison County, New York, United States. It was designed and built in 1936, and is one of a number of post offices in New York State designed by the Office of the Su ...

File:FWA-PBA-Paintings and Sculptures for Public Buildings-painting depicting textile worker in mill at large loom with... - NARA - 197274.tif, One of 13 murals in

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

in the series ''Resources of America'' (1939) by

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Biography Shahn was born ...

and

Bernarda Bryson Shahn Bernarda Bryson Shahn (March 7, 1903 – December 12, 2004) was an American painter and lithographer. She also wrote and illustrated children's books including ''The Zoo of Zeus'' and ''Gilgamesh.'' The artist Ben Shahn was her "life companion ...

for the

United States Post Office–Bronx Central Annex The Bronx Central Annex of the United States Postal Service is a historic post office building located at 558 Grand Concourse in Concourse, the Bronx, New York, United States. The four-story structure was built from 1935 to 1937. The building wa ...

File:The Family Industry and Agriculture by Harry Sternberg, 1939.jpg, ''The Family, Industry and Agriculture'' (1939) by

Harry Sternberg Harry Sternberg (1904–2001), was an American painter, printmaker and educator. He taught at the Art Students League of New York, from 1933 to c. 1966. Biography Childhood, family life, and education Sternberg's parents had immigrated from Russ ...

, in the old

Ambler, Pennsylvania Ambler is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the Center City Philadelphia. History Lenape The historical territory of the Lenni Lenape was in the Delaware River Valley, in a ...

U.S. Post Office File:'Abbot Kinney and the Story of Venice' by Edward Biberman, 1941.JPG, ''The Story of Venice'' (1941), mural by Edward Biberman for the U.S. Post Office in

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

, California File:Mural-Post-Office-Benton-Arkansas.jpg, ''The Bauxite Mines'' (1942), mural by Julius Woeltz for the U.S. Post Office in

Benton, Arkansas Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 30,681. In 2019 the population was estimated at 36,820. ...

File:Air Mail by Edwin Boyd Johnson, 1937.jpg, ''

Airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

'' (1937), fresco by

Edwin Boyd Johnson Edwin Boyd Johnson (November 4, 1904 – 1968) was an American painter, designer, muralist and photographer. Edwin Boyd Johnson was born on November 4, 1904, in Watertown, Tennessee,. Not long thereafter, the family moved to Nashville, Tenne ...

for the U.S. Post office in

Melrose Park, Illinois Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 24,796. Melrose Park had long been home to a large Italian-American population. The suburb was the home of ...

Final years

In 1939, under the Reorganization Act, all Treasury Department and WPA arts programs were incorporated into the

Federal Works Agency The Federal Works Agency (FWA) was an independent agency of the federal government of the United States which administered a number of public construction, building maintenance, and public works relief functions and laws from 1939 to 1949. Along wit ...

, but the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and other factors were soon to end the programs. Edward Bruce died of a heart attack in January 1943. By the end of 1943, all of the New Deal art programs had been shut down.

References

External links

*
Bulletin
', Section of Painting and Sculpture, nos. 1–5, 7–11, 13–24, at HathiTrust

New Deal/WPA Art Project

(

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

online exhibition)
Summary of federal art programs
prepared by the

Article on the Section
from the website of th
Arkansas Post Office Mural Project
of the

University of Central Arkansas The University of Central Arkansas (Central Arkansas or UCA) is a public university in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1907 as the Arkansas State Normal School, the university is one of the oldest in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As the state's only n ...

's College of Fine Arts and Communication
Arkansas Post Offices and the Treasury Department's Section Art Program, 1938–1942
{{authority control New Deal projects of the arts Arts organizations based in the United States Murals in the United States New Deal agencies Public art in the United States United States Department of the Treasury Arts organizations established in 1934 Government agencies established in 1934 Government agencies disestablished in 1942 Organizations disestablished in 1942 1934 establishments in the United States 1942 disestablishments in the United States

Overview

Creation

Art

Final years

See also

Further reading

References

External links