New New Deal: Toward A New Era of Social Imagination

New New Deal: Toward a New Era of Social Imagination 2020/05/15 11'34 AM
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New New Deal: Toward a New Era of Social

Imagination
The community-centered approach of the Federal Art Project can be an inspiration in a
time when the current system must be rethought.
Hans Ulrich Obrist (https://news.artnet.com/about/hans-ulrich-obrist-1455), May 5, 2020
Hans Ulrich Obrist speaks at the Serpentine Galleries Autumn Exhibitions Press conference on September 28, 2016 in London,
England. Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Serpentine Galleries.
I recently came across a collective document called “The Grey Briefings,

(https://www.greybriefings.com/covid)” written by the Special
Circumstances Intelligence Unit, a global group of 90 futurists, writers,
designers, technologists, and policy makers. The question they ask is this:
“What would happen to Europe and North America if COVID-19 lasted a year
or more?” Using software from MIT, they uncover three scenarios, all of
which mean saying goodbye to the world as we know it.
All three begin with massive unemployment. Scenario One is the Pyramid
Scenario, where governments enact policies that benefit the rich, which will
result in exacerbated inequality, poverty, and violence. Scenario Two is the
Leviathan Scenario, where governments expand their powers and use them
to deliver social goals and collective benefits. The third is The Village
Scenario, where ineffective and unsustainable state responses lead to
fragmentation and fragile local DIY solutions and support.
https://news.artnet.com/opinion/new-deal-arts-hans-ulrich-obrist-1851828 Page 1 of 11
According to the briefing, the scenario that pays off in the end is the
Leviathan Scenario, where everyone makes sacrifices and is mobilized to
develop local solutions, creating bottom-up experimentation with
government support. There is a focus on public goods and social welfare,
transforming the economy and creating a more resilient and sustainable
foundation. This will lead to post-crisis recovery and result in a New New
Deal.
Based on the Works Project Administration introduced in America in 1935,

such projects would focus on new public networks, digital services, widely
accessible next-generation health-care systems, and climate-resilient
energy, transport, and housing projects. Governments would act as both
guides and delivery partners.
The briefing ends with some pertinent questions. What might a Post-COVID-
19 Renaissance look like? Could a long-term COVID crisis provide
stimulation for a new era of social imagination? How can we imagine a more
healthy, satisfying, and fair world in light of the challenges posed by this
“Great Transition”?
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses crowds at Grant Field and defends the
New Deal. Photo by Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images.
In terms of culture, the challenge, according to the briefing, will be in

navigating a delicate balance between honoring people’s concerns about
change and encouraging them to experiment and be open to new ideas. As
president Franklin D. Roosevelt, author of the New Deal, wrote
(https://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/research/faculty-
research/new-deal/roosevelt-speeches/fr052232.htm) in 1932: “The country
needs, and—unless I mistake its temper—the country demands bold,
persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it:
if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”
The future is often invented from fragments of the past. In the late 1990s, I
was friendly with Helen Levitt (1913–2009), the extraordinary street
photographer, filmmaker, and friend of Walker Evans. Levitt told me that
Evans told her at length that during the Great Depression he participated
alongside Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, and many other American
photographers in the Farm Security Administration (FSA) photography
program, which was organized as part of the New Deal in 1937 by Roy
Stryker and produced 250,000 images of rural poverty.
Levitt told me that should there one day be a major global crisis that would
shake society to its roots (such as the one we are living through now), we
should revisit the legacy of Roosevelt’s New Deal and what it did with and
for culture. Remembering her words, I found my notes recording what she
had told me: how to put in place democratic and decentralized government
art patronage, and how to connect the artist and the social environment.
Levitt also made me aware that these projects of large-scale governmental
support of artists had a predecessor in 1926, when the Mexican government
paid artists to decorate public buildings with murals.
Jackson Pollock, Going West (1934-35). Image via Wikiart.
In the US, government support for art started in 1933 as a direct result of
the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and led to mass unemployment.
As cultural historian Robert C. Vitz points out, “the magnitude of the crisis
forced artists to explore ways of combatting their traditional isolation and
eventually through artist organization and with the help of several
government art programs they found a new sense of community and a new
role in American Society.” Vitz describes how Morris Graves wandered
through the West selling paintings on the roadside, how Jackson Pollock
travelled across the country hitching rides and jumping freight trains, how
Arshile Gorky called the Depression years “the bleakest, most spirit-
crushing” period of his life, and spoke of the “futility of such paralyzing
poverty for the artist.” He also tells us how Marsden Hartley wrote that “the
uncertainty adds no whit whatever to the peace of mind that is necessary for
decent work.”
Artists lost most of their previous private philanthropic support, and the
many cooperative events and markets (such as the Society of independent
Artists’s art market held at the Grand Central Palace in NYC in 1931) did not
provide the necessary income. One initiative was put forward by the
American Society of Painters Sculptors and Gravers, who in 1935 suggested
that museums should pay rental fees to the living artists whose work they
exhibited. Only a few museums, like the Whitney Museum of Art and the San
Francisco Museum complied, so this failed to raise the necessary income. It
became increasingly obvious that only a large-scale governmental initiative
could bring solutions.
American artist Allen Saalburg directs WPA artists at work in a temporary studio at the
American Museum of Natural History on murals commissioned for the Arsenal Building
in Central Park, New York, New York, 1935. Photo by New York Times Co./Getty
Images.
As art historian Erica Beckh writes (https://www.jstor.org/stable/774313), a

momentous meeting took place in the home of Edward Bruce in Washington,
DC on December 8, 1933. Bruce was an artist, lawyer, businessman,
publisher, and collector. His generalist mind and pragmatic spirit were
instrumental in creating a scheme to help artists. He gathered many museum
directors from all over the country to convene at the one-day long meeting,
which was also attended by Eleanor Roosevelt and chaired by Roosevelt’s
SHARE
uncle Frederic A. Delano. Here, the first Federal art program, the Public
Works of Art Project (PWAP) was defined, with the aim of providing work for
! American artists through commissions, for example sculpture and mural
decorations for federal buildings. Beckh summarizes:
"
Administered by the Procurement Division of the Treasury
Department with funds allotted from the Federal Emergency
+
Relief Administration, the PWAP was a part of the Federal
relief program. It was directed by a central staff in
$
Washington, assisted by sixteen regional volunteer
committees, composed of art museum personnel and the
%
like. The broad aims of the program were (1) to establish
democratic methods of government art patronage, (2) to

decentralize artistic activity throughout the entire nation,
(3) to encourage the emergence of young, unknown talent,
'
(4) to increase the general public appreciation of the arts,
and (5) to promote a closer interrelation of the artist with
his social environment.
The PWAP came to an end in 1934 and was replaced by two independent
programs. The first, again under the directorship of Bruce, was called the
Section of Painting and Sculpture (which later become the Section of Fine
Art) and was a permanent agency, no longer part of the Treasury’s relief
fund. It commissioned professional artists to decorate federal buildings and
was organized through open, anonymous competition. The idea was to
create more interest in the arts within society.
As the artist/muralist George Biddle wrote

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/41204474) in 1940, “This employment of over
600 artists in almost 800 American cities has not cost the taxpayer one
additional cent of money. It has been financed through the earmarked use of
a Congressionally-voted building allocation.” Biddle also noted that the
“policy of selecting by open competitions coupled with the decentralization
(inherent in the fact that the building program itself is located almost entirely
in small towns) is in my mind the greatest contribution and the healthiest
influence of the section.”
The second project, under the directorship of Holger Cahill, was called the
Federal Art Project (FAP). Intended to bridge fine art, public art, popular art,
craft, industrial arts, and folk arts, it was part of the Work Progress
Administration (WPA, renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939), a
New Deal agency that employed millions of job-seekers to carry out public
works such as the construction of public edifices, roads, and other large-
scale works. One of the main problems with the Section of Fine Art was that
often artists were paid in several installments, and each step needed to be
approved, which often led to a lack of risk-taking and to compromise in the
result of the murals. Under the FAP, however, every participating artist
received a salary, which required less supervision.
In Cahill’s own words, “It is the function of our time to organize great
democratic and participatory cultural programs for restoring the relation
between artist and public. The shock needed to set the program going was
the Great Depression, which made it clear that unless the organized
community stepped in, the arts would enter a dark from which they might
not recover for generations.”
The FAP encompassed
—Fine Arts: murals, sculpture, easel painting, graphic art. The murals had
the biggest outreach, or in the words of muralist George Biddle, “Whenever
mural art had reached its fullest expression, there had also been a universal
religion—that is, a common social faith or purpose which the artist had
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—Practical Art: posters, photography, arts and craft, dioramas, stage sets.
This included the Index of American Design, an encyclopedic survey of The US G
decorative arts and folk arts in the US in the 19th century. That project is Won’t Ste
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American Sea Chest (circa 1840), a painted and carved storage box, an item
illustrated in the Index of American Design. Photo by Sepia Times/Universal Images
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—Educational Services: galleries and art centers, art teaching, research and
information. Of particular importance was the creation of more than 100
community centers, as it brought generations together and made art
accessible to many more people.
Poster for Harlem Community Art Center. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
As George J. Mavigliano wrote (https://pdfslide.net/documents/the-federal-

art-project-holger-cahills-program-of-action.html):
Community art centers helped break down the strange

notion that art could only be appreciated by a limited group
of people. Growing numbers of people began to see the
value of art as a recreational pastime which formed a link
between the professional artist and the layman, broadening
the scope of art in the community. Both of these programs
were to serve as a means of introducing art into many
American communities hitherto barren of art and art
interest.
Mavigliano reminds us of Cahill’s speech at philosopher John Dewey’s

eightieth birthday, where he emphasized the value Dewey gave to seeing art
in daily life and to connecting art and society. He believed that art should
not be looked upon as a mere frill to standard education, but something to
be experienced through participation.
American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey sitting at a

typewriter, 1946. Photo by JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images.
Cahill wrote that his inspiration from his teacher Dewey came from “the fact
that philosophic ideas have a way of getting translated into programs of
action… the thought of the philosopher makes its way into the homely
experience every day.” He was inspired by Dewey’s book, Art as Experience
(https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/296640/art-as-experience-
by-john-dewey/) (1934), which reads like a manifesto for the democratization
of art and was one of the major inspirations for my own “Do It
(https://curatorsintl.org/special-projects/do-it)” exhibition project. Art as
Experience describes how “the growth of capitalism has been a powerful
influence in the development of the museum as the proper home for works
of art, and in the promotion of the idea that they are apart from the common
life.” Dewey wanted to recreate a continuity between the refined and
intensified forms of experience that he attributed to the work of art and the
everyday events that form our experience.
Installation view of “do it” at the Hunter College’s East Harlem Gallery, 2019.
Courtesy of Seamus Gallagher and ICI.
As Jillian Russo notes

(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01973762.2018.1436800?
src=recsys&journalCode=gvir20), “For Dewey, philosophy required practical
application, testing, and active participants to enact reform.” This is exactly

what Cahill did at the FAP, which became a large, concrete practical
laboratory where he applied and disseminated Dewey’s ideas.
After Pearl Harbor and the US entry into World War II, the conservative-
minded Congress became increasingly opposed to government art projects.
It had been an amazingly productive five years of art patronage, resulting in
thousands of public artworks. Millions of people attended arts and craft
classes in the 107 community centers, which were open to everyone. The
anonymous competitions, both regional and national, also created a sense
of community. Exhibitions were held that were seen by millions, with many
people in regional places where there were no museums experiencing
original works of art for first time.
The program’s many initiatives allowed young artists the possibility to work
in an otherwise destitute environment, and triggered an explosion of creative
talent in the following decades. Stuart Davis, Marsden Hartley, Arshile
Gorky, Philip Guston, William de Kooning, Lee Krasner (who said that the
WPA saved her life), Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Alice Neel, Ad
Reinhart, and Mark Rothko all benefited from the scheme at a crucial early
moment in their careers despite abysmal conditions.
Installation view of “Lee Krasner: Mural Studies” at Kasmin Gallery in 2018, a show of
studies for an unrealized WPA mural. Photo by Diego Flores, courtesy Kasmin Gallery.
Today, at this moment of extreme crisis in the world, a deeply worrying and
precarious time for artists and for everybody, an art stimulus project similar
in scale to the WPA is urgently needed. The idea is highly relevant for the
current moment, both in terms of supporting the economy and of helping
and caring for artists. In this time, it’s particularly important that (as Helen
Lewitt told me in the conversation which triggered this text) art institutions
think about how they can go beyond their walls and reach everyone. It is our
collective role as public institutions to support artists and culture at this
time. When art institutions make their platforms available to artists, many of
the dire problems of the world can be explored with honesty and hope. If
there was ever a time that the world needed artists, it is now. In the
aftermath of the virus, when the world is rebuilding itself, the cities have to
step up. The regions have to step up. Countries have to step up.
Governments have to help lay out this infrastructure for change.
Thinking about a New New Deal and how the FDR government arts program
could be a toolbox for today, it is interesting to visit Jeremy Rifkin’s
book The Green New Deal
(https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250253217) (2019). Here, Rifkin
proposes an urgent plan to confront climate change, transform the economy
and create a green post-fossil-fuel culture. Similar to the New Deal
mobilization and large-scale federal program during the Great Depression,
which found support across all political parties and enabled the
infrastructure to go into the Second Industrial Revolution, the Green New

Deal will generate all electricity from renewable sources, and create jobs
and promote research in the new green economy.
It is important to state that this is a very different time from the 1930s and,
as Rifkin notes, this is not a replication of FDR’s New Deal. It is rather a
Green New Deal for the 21st century centered around locally harvested
renewable energies and managed by regional infrastructures that connect
across borders like wifi. In the 21st century, every state, city, and country
around the world can be relatively self-sufficient in its green power
generation and resilience. The Industrial Revolution infrastructure works
most effectively and efficiently when it is laterally scaled and connects a
multitude of small players. The Green New Deal asks for such laterally
scaled cooperatives, all building to a smart green Third Industrial
Revolution, working at near-zero marginal costs with a near-zero carbon
footprint.
This is end of Part 1 of a 2-part essay. I will be writing a second chapter on

the Green New Deal and the arts which will speak about the Serpentine’s
“Back to Earth” project.
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New New Deal: Toward a New Era of Social Imagination 2020/05/15 11'34 AM

artnet (http://www.artnet.com) artnet Auctions (https://www.artnet.com/auctions/) 中文 (http://artnetnews.cn)

New New Deal: Toward a New Era of Social

I recently came across a collective document called “The Grey Briefings,

Based on the Works Project Administration introduced in America in 1935,

In terms of culture, the challenge, according to the briefing, will be in

Jackson Pollock, Going West (1934-35). Image via Wikiart.

As art historian Erica Beckh writes (https://www.jstor.org/stable/774313), a

As the artist/muralist George Biddle wrote

The FAP encompassed

Art Industry New

As George J. Mavigliano wrote (https://pdfslide.net/documents/the-federal-

Community art centers helped break down the strange

Mavigliano reminds us of Cahill’s speech at philosopher John Dewey’s

American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey sitting at a

As Jillian Russo notes

application, testing, and active participants to enact reform.” This is exactly

infrastructure to go into the Second Industrial Revolution, the Green New

This is end of Part 1 of a 2-part essay. I will be writing a second chapter on

Follow artnet News (https://www.facebook.com/artnet) on Facebook:

SIGN UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER

The best of artnet news

Hans Ulrich Obrist

SIGN UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER Enter your email SUBSCRIBE

artnet Magazine Archive: E n g l i s h ( U S ) ( h t t p : / / w w w. a r t n e t . c o m / m a g a z i n e u s / f ro n t p a g e . a s p ) D e u t s c h ( h t t p : / / w w w. a r t n e t . d e / m a g a z i n e / )

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