In 1935, wanting to curb the mass unemployment of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of a number of programs known collectively as the New Deal. While much of the WPA was focused on creating jobs through infrastructure and construction projects, it also provided substantial resources for the arts through the Federal Art Project (FAP). The FAP employed over 10,000 artists from 1935-1943, who in return created over 400,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and more. Many of the artworks depict American labor and industry, including scenes of infrastructure, fertile farmlands, small town life, and big city vibrancy.
The FAP was also responsible for establishing more than 100 art centers around the United States. Included among these was the Experimental Gallery in Oklahoma City, which would become the Oklahoma Art Center. When President Roosevelt dissolved the WPA following the outbreak of World War II, the government allocated twenty-eight artworks to the Oklahoma Art Center (now the Oklahoma City Museum of Art), providing the basis for the Museum’s permanent art collection.
