The Federal Art Project.

Like its counterparts, the Federal Theatre, Writers, Dance, and Music Projects, the Federal Art Project (FAP) was a part of the Works Progress Administration. Preceded by the Public Works of Art Project in 1933 and 1934, founded in 1935, drastically reduced in 1939, and eliminated entirely in 1943, the FAP was responsible for more than 2,500 murals, 11,000 designs, 108,000 easels, and 17,000 sculptures. Perhaps the most famous of all of these endeavors, however, were the commissioned murals of the FAP.

Public Works of Art Project.

In 1933 artist George Biddle, known as the father of federal arts projects, wrote a letter to his old classmate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, suggesting a series of publicly commissioned murals by young American artists — murals that would express American ideals and the social vision of the New Deal. The result, after the usual political battles had been fought and...