The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts presents 1934—A New Deal for Artists on view to January, 8, 2012.

Lily Furedi, Subway 1934 Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The period that produced arguably the United States’ greatest challenges—the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II—also produced art that both reflected the values of the nation, and provided optimism for the future. 1934—A New Deal for Artists is a collection of fifty-six paintings produced under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Program from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The PWAP—which was a component of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal economic recovery program—lasted from mid-December of 1933 to June of 1934. During that brief period, around 4,000 artists from around the nation were commissioned by the program to produce some 15,000 paintings reflecting the everyday life of the nation. The paintings are a lasting visual record of America at a specific time and embody the country’s hope for a brighter future.

This exhibition is sponsored in Montgomery by Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama; Loree and Owen Aronov, and Terri Aronov; Bobbi and Ferrell Patrick; AlaTrust; River Bank & Trust; Burke Schloss. mmfa.org

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1. de Saisset Museum Opens Hobos to Street People: Artists Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present
2. The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts presents Art Auction 2010
3. Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art Presents Colorado Art Survey IV Featuring the Denver Artists Guild