Public Murals in New York

At the height of the Depression in the USA, Franklin D Roosevelt was elected president. As part of the New Deal program, the Federal Art Project employed artists to paint public murals. There were over 200 in New York alone. The program visits the sites of some of the murals: The Pursuit of Happiness by Vertis Hayes in Harlem Hospital, showing phases of life among Negro people in Africa and America; The Development of Medicine by William Palmer (two parts remain) in Queens General Hospital, New York; the only abstract work, done for the Williamsburgh Housing Project but now removed to the Brooklyn Museum; James Brooks' Flight at La Guardia Airport; and James Michael Newell's The History of Western Civilization at Evander Childs High School.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.