Public Works of Art Project
Size: 5 items (on partial microfilm reel).
Summary: Two articles by Forbes Watson and one article by Edward Bruce on PWAP, ca. 1934; an address by Edward Bruce on the Project printed in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, 1934; an exhibition announcement of the Washington Committee of the PWAP; and an exhibition catalog, NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF ART BY THE PUBLIC WORKS OF ART PROJECT, for an exhibition held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1934.
PWAP, the first of the New Deal art programs, was established under the Department of the Treasury in December 1933 to assist unemployed artists by enabling them to work on the decoration of non-federal public buildings. Although it lasted only until the following summer, it engaged nearly 4,000 artists in all parts of the country and served as an important precedent for subsequent federal art programs, such as the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. Edward Bruce was the director of PWAP and Forbes Watson was the advisor.
Provenance unknown.
Microfilm reel 3483 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Public Works of Art Project articles and exhibition catalog, 1933-1934. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
