Art for the People: WPA-Era Paintings from the Dijkstra Collection

“Art for the People: WPA-Era Paintings from the Dijkstra Collection,” includes 19 striking works that will be on view in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art from Dec. 2, 2023, through March 18, 2024. Drawn from the collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra, “Art for the People” and its accompanying catalog explore representational paintings created in the United States between the 1929 stock market crash and World War II. Organized by the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California; the Oceanside Museum of Art in Oceanside, California; and The Huntington, the exhibition focuses on federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) artists of the 1930s and early 1940s who were employed by the government to help stimulate the post-Depression economy. More than 10,000 artists participated, creating works that represented the nation and its people and seeking to express fundamental human concerns, basic democratic principles, and the plight of the dispossessed.