The WPA, Expressionism, and Women

Works progress Administration is an employment initiative set by the US federal government to help stimulate an injured economy during the great depression. Through WPA, over 40000 artists were employed and would entertain through music, paintings, sketches, murals, photography, as well as sculpture.  This paper generally studies the role of WPA to women artists.

The great depression had rendered most American bread winners their jobs. Since most women were single (either through desertion, widowed, and divorce), they were faced with the challenge of care taking. With no other income source, however, they took up the burden of becoming family heads. [1]When Works Progress Administration came into existence, women artists would be employed in the textile industry sewing clothes and blankets for children homes and health centers. Since WPA was non-discriminatory, it saw a significant 40 percent of qualified women artists register.  Notable women include Lee Krasner, June Wayne, and Alice Neel, all of created important artistic contributions. [2] They were welcomed to offer their expertise in the fields of painting, printing, and sculpturing so as to help them develop personal styles.

As opposed to other women in modernism, the WPA artists were given the same respect as their male counterparts, even through most of their work touched on existing societal concerns. They were encouraged to live and work together in developing their communities. Therefore, an insurance of gender equality by WPA empowered these artists into becoming self reliant. Such an uprising will mean that the voice of women was now being heard- they were working for the passion. [3]For instance, Artist Mandelman recognized WPA artists as those who were driven by unseen forces to paint, print, draw, and curve for a noble socio-political cause. The rise of WPA expressionism helped expose the fact that these women had an equal contribution to the American economy. Slowly but surely, hopeless 1930s had produced recognized a modern working class American woman.

Bibliography

Langa, Helen. Radical art: printmaking and the left in 1930s New York. CA: University of California           Press, 2004.

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[1]  Helen, Langa. Radical art: printmaking and the left in 1930s New York. (CA: University of California Press, 2004.)

[2] Helen, Langa. Radical art: printmaking and the left in 1930s New York. (CA: University of California Press, 2004.)

[3]  Helen, Langa. Radical art: printmaking and the left in 1930s New York. (CA: University of California Press, 2004.)

 -Lionel Savage