Between 1935 and 1943, the federal government funded the arts through the Works Progress Administration. Rochester’s program, termed “the most interesting and effective outside of New York City,” was hosted by the Memorial Art Gallery and administered by then-director Gertrude Herdle Moore.
This exhibition will highlight a group of recently restored mural studies by Rochester artist Carl W. Peters for 13 extant WPA murals, most of which were done for the Rochester City School District. Also featuring additional work by Peters and a series of WPA posters on loan from the Library of Congress, this exciting project illuminates an important moment in local and national history.
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Sponsored by the Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery, with additional support from the Herdle-Moore Fund, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Fund, the University of Rochester School of Arts and Sciences, Paul Marc & Pamela Miller Ness, Marguerite & James Quinn, and the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation. Underwriting is also provided by New York State Council on the Arts and administered by Museum Association of New York.
Conservation of the Peters mural studies was made possible by Greater Hudson Heritage Network and the National Endowment for the Arts.