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WPA Art in Connecticut:
Seventy-five years ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt initiated the New Deal, a series of programs to help Americans recover during the Great Depression. In 1935 the Federal Arts Project (FAP) was founded to put artists to work. More than 165 Connecticut artists produced approximately 5,000 pieces of art in a variety of mediums including murals, commemoratives, paintings, sculptures and ceramics. Some of the artists became well known and had distinguished careers following the FAP. Others were virtual unknowns at the time and the details of their lives and work are lost. The Connecticut State Library and the Mattatuck Museum Arts & History are collaborating on a project that identifies and locates Connecticut FAP easel paintings.
WE NEED YOUR HELP in locating extant FAP art to produce an exhibition and a sourcebook. This information will be added to the WPA Art Inventory at the Connecticut State Library. Neither organization intends to art from its owner. We will make a record of surviving art and shall request permission to make a digital record of the piece for our files. A request for loan of the work might come in the future, should we want to include the work in the exhibition, planned for Fall 2010.
Please contact croznoy@mattatuckmuseum.org with any FAP information. She will be grateful for your help in furthering our state's artistic and historical legacy.
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