A Virtual ArtWalk in New Deal Washington DC

This virtual tour discusses how the New Deal (1933-1942) helped shape our nation’s capital in the context of New Deal art. We will learn about some of the artists and designers of DC’s public art and current efforts to preserve it.

The tour starts at the Library of Congress Annex, with public sculptures and doors by Lee Lawrie, and continues to the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, called “the Sistine Chapel of New Deal art” for its murals by Ben Shahn, Seymour Fogel and Philip Guston. The Cohen building is among federal buildings listed for sale and could be demolished. We continue on to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, concluding at the Jefferson Memorial, dedicated by FDR in person amid public debate about the role of government and public works.

Our guide, David Taylor, leads tours of New Deal art and architecture in Washington DC for Smithsonian Associates. He is a writer and producer for The People’s Recorder, a national podcast about American life in the 1930s featuring interviews and recordings collected by the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project.