Brush Strokes for Just Plain Folks

Artists hoped to achieve many things during the Depression. Some were determined to shed light on the desperate poverty gripping the nation. Others were bent on finding beauty amid all the suffering. Still others hoped to persuade their fellow citizens to renounce capitalism and embrace Marxism. Above all, most just wanted to survive.

Thanks to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration and other programs, they did. From 1933 to 1943, the government employed thousands of out-of-work artists to create murals, paintings, sculptures and much more—all for the enjoyment and education of the public. In the end, the effort not only meant that artists didn’t starve; it also provided many, previously shut out by society, with a platform for their work. “During the ‘30s, American art became more inclusive than it had ever been before,” explains Bram Dijkstra, curator of an exhibit of WPA-era paintings at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

It wouldn’t last, though. “Opponents of the WPA, who resented its supposedly ‘socialist’ focus, had been lying in wait for a chance to destroy what the Depression had built,” Dijkstra says. “Too many ‘inferior’ artists (read: Jews, Italians, African Americans, women) had been allowed to participate in the programs. The war years had brought prosperity back to the American middle classes. . . . The new elite liked the idea of abstract painting better.”

What follows are a few select images—depicting everyday life around Southern California—that appear in the Oceanside museum show, which runs through March 19.