Women, Art and the New Deal

After FDR promised Americans a “new deal” in 1932, he came through with a new Works Progress Administration (WPA), which would employ a large group of skilled and unskilled workers, among them artists. Included in this group were both those who had earned their living through art before the Depression and many who had not. This opportunity went to journalists, fiction writers, historians, dramatists, researchers, photographers, poster makers, painters, sculptors, muralists, wood carvers, composers, and choreographers—“for the first time the artist was recognized as a useful member of society instead of a romantic ivory tower starveling.” Adams and Keene highlight these women who created a richly complex portrait of what it meant to American women using their own words. Thirteen chapters and conclusion are: new deal documentary; women, documentary, the Depression, and the New Deal; the individual art programs, the women involved; portraits of modern women alone and together; beyond portraits to personification; specific themes developed; moving into romantic relationships; American marriage—and divorce; coping in a world of violence; reproductive rights and motherhood; race and class, and gender; women at work; and the subject of age; “a blazing sun against a black sky”. There are chapter notes, a bibliography, and illustrations. Annotation c2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Katherine H. Adams is the Hutchinson Distinguished Professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans. Michael L. Keene is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.