History Time with Mary:
The Artist’s Union of the 1930’s was a response to dramatic economic
fallout that hit artists after the Great Depression. The union
agitated for change and successfully made jobs and funding a reality
through government programs like the Works Progress Administration’s
Section of Painting and Sculpture (began the year after this 1934
photo was taken) and the Federal Art Project. If the 1960’s Art
Workers Coalition was the parent group of the current Occupy
Museums/Artists of the 99% movement, the artists of the Depression-era
union were its grandparents.
-Mary Emily O’Hara
