Canvas by Abbott, Javiar (jabbott6)

Jay Abbott, Makenzie Alexander, JaKarrius Allen, Kiersten Little

jabbott6_2 — 2025-03-25 19:57:22 UTC

Works Progress Administration, Federal Arts Project

Negritude

jakarriusallen05 — 2025-03-25 20:07:51 UTC

Negritude is a literary movement from around 1930-1950. This began among French-Speaking African and Caribbean writers in Paris to protest against French colonial rule. This movement was influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Its leading figure was Léopold Sédar Senghor

The négritude movement played a crucial role in shaping the ideals of Pan-Africanism by promoting a shared sense of identity among people of African descent.it also expanded to visual arts, drawing influence from a range of styles and art movements including Surrealism.

Reference

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2025, February 21). Negritude. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/Negritude

makenzie2004alexander — 2025-03-25 20:13:25 UTC

The WPA Federal Art Project was the most comprehensive and significant of the visual arts initiatives developed during the 1930s Depression by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. It was also the first significant attempt at government support of the visual arts in the United States. The Works Progress (later Projects) Administration Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) employed artists with a wide range of experience and styles, sponsored a more varied and experimental body of art, and had a far greater influence on later American movements than the Treasury Department's art programs, which are frequently confused with the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture, Public Works of Art Project, and Treasury Relief Art Project.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/WPA-Federal-Art-Project

Art work

jakarriusallen05 — 2025-03-25 20:15:49 UTC

Artwork

jakarriusallen05 — 2025-03-25 20:18:49 UTC

makenzie2004alexander — 2025-03-25 20:20:36 UTC

The biggest challenge of the project was striking a compromise between the strict timekeeping regulations of the WPA bureaucracy and the whims and erratic timelines of the creative process. Another fundamental issue emerged when the WPA had to remove artists from its rolls due to budget cuts; riots and sit-down strikes among the artists frequently followed the receipt of too many notices of termination. Artists formed a national Artists' Union to safeguard their unstable jobs and enhance working conditions.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/WPA-Federal-Art-Project

How was the FAP problematic? (1)

klittl15_1 — 2025-03-25 20:20:41 UTC

The Federal Art Project's skill classification system made it so that those who did not have much or any formal training and few/no exhibitions were relegated to lower-level jobs such as teaching in art centers. The majority of those who did not fit that criteria were African Americans, because they did not have those same opportunities. Additionally, the art centers African Americans taught at in the South specifically did not have the same resources as those in the North, making their jobs more difficult.

Reference

https://news.colgate.edu/researchmagazine/2023/08/complicating-the-consensus-black-artists-and-the-works-progress-administration-wpa.html/

Federal Arts Project

jabbott6_2 — 2025-03-25 20:33:17 UTC

The Federal Art Project (FAP) under the Works Progress Administration, while providing employment for artists during the Great Depression, was problematic for Black artists due to systemic racism and discrimination. They faced limited representation in leadership roles, fewer opportunities, and unequal funding compared to white artists. Many FAP-sponsored art centers were segregated, restricting access to professional development, while commissioned works often favored mainstream (white) American narratives, sidelining Black cultural experiences. Additionally, institutional racism made it difficult for Black artists to gain visibility, receive major commissions, or exhibit their work on the same level as their white counterparts.

https://digitalworks.union.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1969&context=theses