City and Country in the 1930s: A Study of New Deal Murals in New York

The current debate over Federal funding of the arts and humanities revolves around a number of issues which are hardly new: national versus local control, the autonomy of the Federal agencies versus the political control of funds, professionalism versus populism, the Northeastern establishment versus regionalism, and one standard of quality versus artistic pluralism.1 These issues were first raised in the 1930s, when the Federal government became the main patron of the arts. During the New Deal the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts maintained the ideals of national control, professionalism, and one standard of quality. The WPA's Federal Art Project had more local control and a more populist and pluralistic spirit. Although scholars have emphasized the dissimilarities in the works of the two projects,2 a consideration of the works of both projects in New York State reveals that a greater distinction lies between the works done in the City and the State rather than between the works done by one project or the other. What emerges is an internationalist vision in the City and a local vision in the State.