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Archibald J. Motley Jr., Jazz Singers, 1934, oil on canvas, 32 x 42 in Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration.
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The WIU Federal Art Project Collection on Display Through April 14 at University Art Gallery

March 20, 2023

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MACOMB, IL -- The Federal Art Project Collection of Western Illinois University will be on display Monday, March 20 – Friday, April 14 at the University Art Gallery.

A reception will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 at the Gallery. WIU Professor of Art History Keith Holz, Ph.D. will speak about the collection at 5 p.m.

WIU's Federal Art Project Collection was formed in the 1930s when University officials commissioned works through the Public Works of Art Project, and later through the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FAP/WPA). These paintings and prints once decorated classrooms, hallways and other public spaces on campus.

While art of the WPA era is traditionally viewed as overwhelmingly naturalistic in style and devoted to traditional regionalist subject matter, the WIU collection actually represents the aesthetic and thematic diversity of much of the art that was produced under the auspices of the Federal Art Project.

Many of the artists commissioned by WIU were based in Chicago, and were involved in the city's cosmopolitan and progressive urban art scene. The collection boasts works by notable artists such as Archibald J. Motley Jr., Gertrude Abercrombie and Romolo Roberti, who were active in many of the innovative artistic movements of the 1930s, such as Precisionism, Surrealism, Art Deco and Social Realism. Many of the works feature subjects inspired by the artists' experiences in either Chicago or rural sectors of Illinois, and offer a fascinating creative perspective on life in the state during a complex period of profound social and economic hardship.

The exhibition is courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration New Deal art project.

Admission to the University Art Gallery is open free to the public.

For more information about the Gallery, visit wiu.edu/artgallery.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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