Chapter 29: Between Two Fires "New Deal Art Projects"

Introduction
Students have read that President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the New Deal to help put the unemployed back to work. They have also read about artist Ben Shahn, a social realist, who painted works that showed the human suffering caused by the Great Depression. Under the New Deal, the federal government supported artists like Shahn.

Lesson Description
Students will go to A New Deal for the Arts Web site. They will then answer four questions about what they have read.

Instructional Objectives
1. Students will learn that the New Deal created work for artists.
2. Students will learn about the themes and purposes of New Deal art projects.

Student Web Activity Answers
1. One mission was to provide work for jobless artists. The other was to promote American art and culture, thus giving more Americans access to "an abundant life."
2. Some politicians felt they were wasteful propaganda. Others supported and wanted to expand them.
3. The controversy had a part in its ending, but the entry of the United States into World War II also effectively ended many New Deal programs.
4. Students' answers will vary, but they should mention that the works were created at a difficult time in America's history and may have had a unifying and uplifting effect on the population.

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