In the mid-1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, the U.S. federal government initiated a series of programs that were meant to provide economic relief to unemployed visual artists. The first such program was the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a Treasury Department initiative under the direction of Edward Bruce. Launched in December 1933 and terminated the following spring, the PWAP was short-lived; even so, several hundred murals were completed under its auspices. In October 1934 the Treasury Department launched a second program, initially called the Section of Painting and Sculpture. Unlike the PWAP, which hired artists and paid them weekly wages, the new program sponsored competitions and awarded commissions to selected artists. Over 1000 post office murals were commissioned by the Treasury Section between 1934 and 1943, the year of the program's demise. The Federal Art Project (FAP) of the...