WPA permanent collection

The WPA holdings were acquired in the 1930's as the result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" governmental programs to provide productive work to the Nation's unemployed for the betterment of the public good. In 1933 and 1934, during the period of "The Great Depression," the Federal government's Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was organized by the Civil Works Administration. The general purpose of the program was "to give work to artists by arranging to have competent representatives of the profession embellish public buildings." This program lasted less than one year, yet it provided employment for approximately 3,700 artists who created nearly 15,000 works of art. In 1935, a similar project, the Federal Art Project (FAP) was established by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Federal Art Project continued until 1943, when the beginning of World War II had changed economic priority to the war effort and the Nation was experiencing economic recovery. Thus ended the first major era of government patronage for art in the United States. The PWAP and the FAP are the source of the Western Illinois University Art Gallery's WPA art collection.

Online gallery of WPA artworks

Gertrude Abercrombie - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Macena Barton - 1
Rainey Bennett
Charles Biesel - 1
Fred Biesel - 1
Aaron Bohrod - 1
Edgar Britton
Howard Langdon Brown - 1 | 2 | 3
Elizabeth Colwell - 1
Vincent D'Agostino - 1
Gustaf Dalstrom
Boris Gilbertson
Emil Jacques Grumieaux - 1
Louis P. Grumieaux
Kalman Edward Himmel - 1
Carl Hoeckner
J. Theodore Johnson - 1
Anne Michelov - 1
Archibald J. Motley, Jr. - 1
Hester Miller Murray - 1 | 2
Helen Noel - 1
Margrette Oatway - 1
Pablo O'Higgins - 1
Gregory Orloff - 1 | 2
Constantine Pougilais
Anton Raugulski - 1
Frederick Remahl
Romolo Roberti - 1
Cornelius C. Sampson - 1 | 2
William S. Schwartz
John F. Stenvall - 1
Paul Stoddard
Charles M. Turzak - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Joseph Vavak
Robert White - 1
Ellsworth Young - 1 | 2
unknown - 1