All WPA Art, Literature, Music etc. is in the Public Domain - our Gov. paid the Artists, Writers etc - Any image can be copied and used commercially, however the Original images are owned by the Gov (GSA) and cannot be sold or re-used in other town, city or state gov buildings without written consent from the (GSA)

In defense of them - they are trying to document what’s out there and are confiscating works that they see being sold on the Internet or through private galleries - they have been fairly rigorous in their pursuit - unfortunately, once they get them back, the works are archived rather than putting them back into the public places - many pieces have gone underground now that there is a “Eureka” awareness with to the ever growing black market for WPA stuff.

I would like to see a grass roots campaign to get citizens involved in identifying their own town’s WPA Art, etc. and having fundraisers to restore them and place them back in their own local public sites -

My husband is a well known artist, WK Gilbert, who restored some beautiful WPA Art and Sculpture for his high school Alma Mater in Marblehead MA - it was fortunate that the townspeople, school department, construction company, etc. were smart enough to take down the art and store them for two years on site until the new high school was completed - ironically, even though the town paid a large sum to an “Art Restoration and Storage Company” recommended by a Boston Museum”, the Murals (removed from the walls with most of the plaster still attached - (not a bad thing if properly packed)were damaged -

They had been packed in non-archival heavy plastic and tissue paper and rolled on non-archival tubes - when unrolled, the plaster was still damp - which made the dry tissue on the image side stick to the canvas oils resulting in lifting of some of the paint on the canvas - both the plaster and tissue had to be painstakingly removed after a month long drying period to minimize further damage to the images - Fortunately, Gilbert was a master and all the pieces were brilliantly restored and are the highlight of the new school library and halls -

I can email you some pictoral timeline of the project if you wish -

What Can You Do -

Find WPA stuff in your town - look in local government buildings -basements, attics etc - check walls (painted over images may be able to be salvaged -

Check your local historical societies, museums, newspaper archives etc. for information on the WPA stuff(including, art, sculpture, literature, music etc.)

Most of the WPA artists were local - find news articles etc about them or their families - (some may still be alive)

Check the federal government (especially the General Services Administration) they may have info in their archives - (Gilbert found one of the Artist family members still living in a nearby town and had a news article about the artist)

Once you find the art, get help in documenting it and especially photographing it - and see if it can be placed in another public building without costing a fortune before going to the GSA -

Get mulitple proposals and bids from reliable sources and do your own research (the Internet is invaluable) - ask others who have had WPA Projects in their communities - Google WPA Art (that’s how I found this site)

Question bids that are too high and too low - do not take hourly bids - and don’t let the so-called Art Experts say “this is the way it must be done” Use your community’s resources - there is a surprisingly plethora of knowledge and common sense in your own backyard -

If at all possible, keep it local, work together to raise funds to clean, restore and re-install or re-locate the art - in some cases the Art will only need a good cleaning -

If your community is lucky to find any WPA Art - do whatever you can to hold on to it so that an extradionary thumb print of Americana remains forever a part of the everyday life in your town.-

Any questions or comments, please email me at jones@gilbertart.com

I love these old posters - although the camera show one is probable the only one that actually qualifies as art deco.