Then
Works Progress Administration, 1935–1943
Washington, D.C.
WPA Federal Art Project, Courtesy of Library of Congress
Then
Works Progress Administration, 1935–1943
Washington, D.C.
WPA Federal Art Project, Courtesy of Library of Congress
The messages are diverse and astonishingly direct: “Keep Your Fire Escapes Clear,” “Visit the Zoo,” “Syphilis Is Now Curable.” Between 1936 and 1943, artists working for the Works Progress Administration designed more than 35,000 posters—of which the government printed over 2 million copies—promoting local and national programs, travel and tourism, and WPA-funded cultural programming, as well as doling out health-and-safety advice. At first, artists hand-painted and signed each poster, but eventually the program came to rely heavily on silk-screening, which allowed the WPA to print multiple copies of a design and churn out up to 600 posters a day.
German-born industrial designer Richard Floethe started the first WPA poster division in New York in 1934, and by 1938 the Federal Art Project, a division of the WPA created specifically to provide jobs for out-of-work artists, had adopted the program and established poster divisions in at least 18 states. Floethe trained at Bauhaus, the German state-sponsored school of art that favored modernist design, and his influence is obvious in the WPA posters, which feature clean lines, bold colors, and distinct typography. The posters were distributed nationwide to be displayed in federal buildings and at numerous other sites. They were placed in libraries, public schools, airports, national parks, in WPA-sponsored gallery exhibits (in 1939, a gallery in New York hosted a display of posters solely devoted to combating syphilis), and other locations. Their audiences, ranging from pregnant women to Illinois cattle farmers, were as diverse as their subject matter.
Today, Works Progress Administration posters have become highly collectible; when a haul of six original posters was brought to a taping of Antiques Roadshow in 2006, an appraiser estimated that the batch might sell for $10,000 to $15,000 at auction. The Library of Congress, meanwhile, has 907 posters in its collection. In a piece Floethe penned for the 1973 book Art for the Millions: Essays from the 1930s by Artists and Administrators of the WPA Federal Art Project, he wrote that “the government unwittingly launched a movement to improve the commercial poster and raised it to a true art form.”
Then
Works Progress Administration, 1935–1943
Washington, D.C.
WPA Federal Art Project, Courtesy of Library of Congress
Now
MGMT. Design, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Now
MGMT. Design, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Inside the Library of Congress is a part of the Works Progress Administration that most people don’t know exists—a vast poster collection. These posters addressed broad cultural issues about which the government wanted to communicate with ordinary Americans: concerns about health care and social stigmas, about the leaking of wartime secrets, the opening up of the national parks, or problems resulting from rapid urbanization. We were drawn to posters that had a clean design as well as straightforward messages. As designers, we noticed that the advertising of the 1930s and ’40s seemed far less cynical or manipulative than it is today.
In our modernized versions of the WPA posters, we chose images whose original advertising messages had parallels with cultural issues of today. Visually, we kept the the graphics simple, used a limited color palette, and chose bold graphics. A consistent typographic style across the set helps them hold together as a series.
The artists of the WPA were making visual public service announcements using the tools at their disposal: ink on paper. Today’s distribution methods have created a relentless flood of messages, putting a torrent of information in the palm of your hand. How the public values, rejects, or embraces this version of public information is up to them.
MGMT. design is a collaborative women-owned graphic design studio founded in 2002 and based in Brooklyn.
Explore Federal Project no. 2
This Land Is Your Land
During the Depression, the federal government urged Americans to visit the country’s natural wonders.
Shelter in Place
The most iconic image from the Great Depression centers on rural poverty—but then, as now, the misery of homelessness was compounded in America’s cities.
Song of the Mississippi
Heartbreak defines the human experience. And nothing can break your heart like your own country.
Hole in One
Harnessing the power of the humble hole punch, to either create narratives or deflate them.
Back to the Music, Back to the Game
A visit to the juke joints in the Florida Everglades where migrant laborers could go to relax.
The Exquisite Catalog of a Crow Fair
Wendy Red Star brings illustrations from the Denver Art Museum’s card catalog to the Crow Nation’s annual gathering.
Public Service Announcements
Updating the iconic posters of the Works Progress Administration.
Proposals for a Monument
Public art has the power to show us what we want to see—or reveal what we deserve.
Portraits of Hard Living in America
The faces and places of a forgotten swath of American life.
The Afterlives of Slaves
Snapshots of a life after slavery, and an imagining of a world without bondage.
If You Build It, They Will Leave
During the New Deal, Southwest DC was razed to create a “model city” for federal workers. Now the area is being redeveloped again, this time into a gentrified urban playground.
The Health and Safety of the Mother
During the Depression, the government encouraged men to get back to work—and women to stay home.
Child’s Play
Handmade dolls embodied marginalized workers’ desire for autonomy—and, now, the plight of children at the United States’ southern border.
A Room of One’s Own
A photograph of a home speaks volumes about the inhabitant, even when they’re not included in the shot.
A Queen Is Born
A local beauty pageant can be about more than just looks. It can also reveal how a community wants to be seen.
Stoop Life and Survival
Documenting a life of a neighborhood means covering street life in all of its joy and pain.
Window Shopping
Conspicuous consumption plummeted during the Great Depression, but the fantasy of big spending remains a part of the American dream.
The Visible Man
Telling, and preserving, the stories that reveal what it’s really like to be black in America—from Ralph Ellison’s classic novel to now.
The People of the Land
Dust Bowl migrants had to pull up roots. Native Hawaiians are strengthening theirs.
After the Curtain Calls
Fulfilling the American dream of standing under bright lights while your friends and neighbors applaud.
The American Guide to the New Vermont
Shane Lavalette follows the refugees who have made their home in the whitest state in the nation.
The Measure of a Man
As Depression-era art centered on the heroic male figures rebuilding America, Paul Cadmus infused his public work with overt expressions of gay desire.
Letting Sleeping Children Lie
Leanne Shapton reconsiders motherhood after seeing a photograph of children asleep during a square dance.
When Art Is an Act of Protest
A summer of activism in Chicago reminds us that in order for history to be taught, it must first be recorded.
The Pioneer Women
For young women who grow up on the family farm, there comes a time to make a choice—should I stay or should I go?
The Shapes of Things to Come
Before many Americans had ever seen an abstract painting, the WPA commissioned artists to create large, avant-garde murals—for installation in a public housing project.
Signs of Boom and Bust
Mark Steinmetz drives the streets of the city’s fast-growing urban sprawl.
The Many Lives of McCarren Park Pool
Beloved, abandoned, then beloved once more, a Brooklyn pool transforms alongside its neighborhood.
On the Road in Search of Soul
The black Southerners who joined the Great Migration wanted to leave oppression behind—not their beloved family recipes. Their traditions would redefine American cooking.
She Works Hard for the Money
During the Depression, women were advised to “sing for their supper” as a way to survive hard times.
Wall to Wall
Public murals are contested spaces, where retellings of history and new visions of the future fight for prominence.
Life Beyond Bars
The Works Progress Administration funded the creation of public works like dams, bridges—and more than 30 prisons and jails.
Making Headlines
The relentless churn of daily news can feel like a burden—especially for those who don’t see themselves represented in it.
The Cycle of a Woman’s Life
A 20th-century mural for a women’s prison meets 21st-century inequality.
