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Places for the People! New exhibit at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia Opens in Nov '20.

10/5/2020

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Places for the People: WPA Travel Posters at Carpenters' Hall celebrates rare local posters created by the WPA Poster Division to promote tourism in and around Philadelphia. The curated exhibit of original posters from the Free Library's Print & Picture Collection brings to light many that have not been on public display for more than 80 years.

WPA Poster exhibit/talk with Ennis Carter, curator & author of Posters for the People and hands-on "print your own" screenprinting workshop of a newly discovered rare poster of Carpenters' Hall. 

To celebrate its connection to travel and tourism, Carpenters’ Hall will host a temporary exhibit of travel posters featuring iconic Philadelphia and Pennsylvania landmarks, including Carpenters’ Hall, Independence Hall, the Betsy Ross House and others. The posters, on loan from the Free Library of Philadelphia and from Carter's collection, were commissioned in the 1930s by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration and were created by leading graphic illustrators.

The “Places for the People” exhibit will run November 6 to December 20, 2020, at Carpenters’ Hall, 320 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. Admission to Carpenters’ Hall is free, and the exhibit can be viewed during the Hall’s regular public hours, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Hall is closed to the public on Monday.

“Places for the People” was originally meant to run concurrently with the U.S. Travel Association’s National Travel & Tourism Week (May 3-9). The association’s theme for the week in 2020 is “#TravelWorks,” which emphasizes the significant economic impact and job creation generated by travel and tourism. “Places for the People” supports this theme beautifully since the WPA posters were created to stimulate these same benefits during the Great Depression.

For more information about “Places for the People” and Carpenters’ Hall, contact Michael Norris, Executive Director, at (215) 925-0167 or michaelnorris@carpentershall.org.
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New Arlington Gregg Posters Added to Archive

5/13/2020

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We are excited to announce that we have added 11 new posters by artist Arlington Gregg to the Posters for the People archive. 7 of these gems are "New to the Public Record" - which means they were never catalogued at the national level!

Thanks to the diligent work of Gregg's grandson Ed Walker, we learned about this collection of posters - and about other stunning art by Arlington Gregg in the process. Ed created a Facebook Page here to celebrate and showcase his grandfather's beautiful work. It's also exciting to put a face to the name connected with such fun and joyous posters as those made by Gregg.

Check out all 20 Arlington Gregg posters including the new 11 here!

MORE EXCITING NEWS! This poster is now attributed to Arlington Gregg because the monogram matches other work that Ed found.
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FUN FACT: This Arlington Gregg poster was the centerpiece of promotional materials for the Posters for the People book.
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MutMuz Gallery Exhibit - Los Angeles Jan/Feb 2020

3/14/2020

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L to R: John Caulkins, producer; Ennis Carter, curator; Henry Vizcarra, Featured Collector
The first west coast exhibit of Posters for the People: Art of the WPA opened in Los Angeles at MutMuz Gallery on Fri, January 31, 2020 and ran through Sun, February 9, 2020.
 
The exhibit, curated by Ennis Carter and produced by John Caulkins featured 20 original WPA posters, signs, photos and films made during the 1930s & 40s – most of which are from the Henry Vizcarra collection.
 
Opening night at the gallery on Chung Kind Road in LA featured a talk with the collectors and the "New Deal Film Festival" - a collection of propaganda and documentary footage from the era that provided context for the WPA programs for which the posters were created. 

Hands-on screenprinting workshops on the weekends gave visitors of all ages the chance to get a personal experience with the medium of most of the posters in the show - and some posters of their own to take home!

A very special thank you goes out to John Caulkins, who envisioned and supported the first exhibit for Posters for the People on the west coast. Thank you also to Mark and Anita Mothersbaugh for giving the exhibit a home in their MutMuz Gallery - and Jennifer Shipman the director of the Mothersbaugh art studio and the gallery for all of the support before, during and after!

And thank you to all the hard work of the exhibit & workshops team! John Caulkins, Henry & Freda Vizcarra, Vanessa Rud, Nadia Estrada, Sebastian Estrada & Emily Riley, Rafael Ramirez, Clementine Bordeaux and Kathleen Krushas.

Read more in the press release here and check out photos and links below.
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African American Representation in WPA Posters

2/27/2020

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by Ennis Carter, curator & author of Posters for the People
Pictureby Harry Herzog
As Black History Month comes to a close, I'd like to share some of my favorite examples of African American representation in WPA Posters. Lately, I've seen several comments about the WPA - and the posters in particular - that contribute to a narrative about the imagery systematically erased people of color. It's a narrative that concerns me because I have the exact opposite perspective.

I have always thought that WPA posters offered a glimpse into American life that counteracted a systematic absence of people of color in mainstream advertising - a dominant narrative form in our market-obsessed country. In many cases, too, the artists depicted symbolic human forms rather than narrow images of what it meant to be an American or a worker. The WPA was by no means fully integrated, but I firmly believe that many of the poster artists were trying to balance inequity with a boldly inclusive depiction for that era. 

​Below are some of my favorite examples of posters that highlight, honor, and celebrate African American people and culture. Many of them (and hundreds more) were designed and produced by people of color who worked in the WPA. (African Americans made up about 15% of the WPA workforce at that time). 


And, as always, if you see WPA posters out there in the world, please share with us! We have documented only 2,000 of the 35,000 thought to have been produced. With those odds, I'm sure there are many more beautiful examples that contributed to a diverse and inclusive view of America - then and now.

Our position on racist or demeaning content in posters
Not all of the WPA posters were respectful in depicting people of color and are not above reproach for having racist or demeaning content. In the interest of documenting all of the WPA posters known to exist, we include everything in the digital archive only. This is real history that needs to be part of the overall view of the output of this program - as sanctioned by the United States government. It is not a part of the program that we celebrate, however. Reproductions are not available of posters that depict racist or demeaning content and we do not include any of these images in our book or exhibits.

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MEDIA ALERT First West Coast Exhibit of Posters for the People: Art of the WPA in LA

1/18/2020

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​Opening at MutMuz Gallery on January 31, 2020

​LOS ANGELES/PHILADELPHIA – The first west coast exhibit of Posters for the People: Art of the WPA will open in Los Angeles at MutMuz Gallery on Fri, January 31, 2020 and run through Sun, February 9, 2020.
 
The exhibit, curated by Ennis Carter and produced by John Caulkins will feature original WPA posters made during the 1930s & 40s – most of which are from the Henry Vizcarra collection.
 
“We are very excited to showcase WPA posters in Los Angeles,” said Carter, the leading expert on WPA posters and founder/author of Posters for the People: Art of the WPA. “It’s a good moment to celebrate a time in our nation’s history when art & design inspired a public consciousness about positive social change. The large local collection of Henry’s combined with other gems from our traveling exhibit will create a show like no other we’ve done before.”
 
WHEN: The exhibit opens on Friday, January 31, 2020 at 5pm
The exhibit will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1/31/20 – 2/9/20 and by appointment.
Poster reproductions & the book Posters for the People: Art of the WPA will be available for purchase.
 
WHERE: MutMuz Gallery, 971 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (Chinatown)
 
Other Programming:
  • “Print-Your-Own” WPA Poster – Silkscreen Workshops
    Saturdays 2/1 & 2/8 at 12 noon – 4pm • Free, Family Friendly, No experience required.

  • The New Deal Film Festival
    WPA film footage & New Deal propaganda will be shown throughout exhibit.
 
After the Great Depression in America (1929 - 1933), newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt initiated his “New Deal” program that put 8.5 million people back to work over an eight-year period (1935 – 1943). Nationwide, 10,000 out-of-work artists and craftspeople were included, with a group of 500 hired to create posters to promote public programs, shared values and everyday American culture. More than 35,000 posters were designed (and 2 million printed) as part of the government- sponsored Works Progress Administration (WPA). There was never a record kept of all of the posters designed. Today, very few originals still exist - scattered across the country or lost.  
 
“The programs of the WPA exposed many Americans to the arts for the first time,” said collector Henry Vizcarra. “The WPA left us a important legacy of art and design right here in California – from the Hollywood Bowl fountain to the murals of the San Pedro post office.”


Posters for the People searches private and public collections to create the most comprehensive record of posters known to exist. Through research they have documented more than 2,000 posters (more than doubling the official number held at the Library of Congress). A growing online archive presents those with visual records; provides a way for people to submit their own findings; and sells books and reproductions to keep the art alive and fund its work. Its curated traveling exhibit of original posters brings to light many that have not been on public display for more than 80 years. For more information visit: http://www.postersforthepeople.com/
 
“I first learned about Ennis’s work through Atlas Obscura,” said John Caulkins. “I found that we share a fascination with historic public art/propaganda and the lesser known poster artists who in fact have shaped our national identity. The New Deal era of the 1930’s deserves our attention in this time of crisis in our government. We wanted to offer the LA public a chance to see the origins of this powerful graphic tradition that has had such a lasting impact on artists in California and elsewhere”
 
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ABOUT
 
MutMuz Gallery is an experimental pop-up contemporary art space that presents accessible and engaging exhibitions and programs. 
Located at 971 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA, 90012. 
For more information visit MutMuz Gallery on Instagram: @mutmuzgallery_  
Contact: Jennifer@Mutato.com  
 
Ennis Carter is the director of DfSI/Social Impact Studios, founder of the Posters for the People project and author of Posters for the People: Art of the WPA. For more information visit: http://socialimpactstudios.com/
 
John Caulkins is an arts producer and early backer of Atlas Obscura.
Contact: jcaulkins@me.com
 
Henry Vizcarra founded 30sixty advertising+design, an entertainment based firm with clients from all the major movie studios. He headed the firm for 35 years. In the past,  Mr.  Vizcarra taught logo design at UCLA Extension. He also published the book “Posters of the WPA 1935-1943” and re-issued a silkscreened collection of  WPA posters.
Mr. Vizcarra has recently retired, but always promotes WPA art whenever he can.
 
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Images available upon request
 
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New Posters from Cleveland, Ohio!

2/26/2016

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We here at Posters for the People are enthusiastic about even the smallest discoveries of new posters, and we are truly excited to present to you three new posters to the archive from the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio!  These posters all advertise publically funded housing for low-income workers and are beautiful examples of W.P.A. artifacts. Thank you to the Scholarly Resources and Special Collections Department at Case Western University for sharing their posters with us! (Click the poster above to explore!)
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Lysistrata and Its Controversy

2/10/2016

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In honor of Black History Month, we present this gem that we've never seen before! And the controversial story about the production here.   #‎NewToThePublicRecord‬ ‪#‎BlackHistoryMonth‬
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This Is Fear Itself

1/15/2016

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by Ennis Carter
Director, Social Impact Studios & Posters for the People
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It’s hard to acknowledge the failings of a hero. All too often we overlook the bad actions of the people we admire, focusing on the sum of their work and turning a blind eye to glaring mistakes. Sometimes we swing to the opposite extreme of disavowing them entirely when we are confronted with flaws in leadership and very bad decisions.
 
Yesterday was the 74th anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt’s Proclamation No. 2537, which led the way for the internment of Japanese-Americans in our own country that same year. It’s a sad moment in the legacy of a leader who once represented pure optimism and hope and is an example of wartime fear that surfaced during the end of his reign as our 32nd President.
 
Our latest addition to the Posters for the People archive gives us the opportunity to address a full spectrum of what was promoted by FDR’s administration, to look more deeply at these two very different approaches to messaging, and to take note of how relevant they are today.
 
As we kick off a year-long celebration of the 80th anniversary of the WPA Poster Division, it is important for us to acknowledge how the full output of the program mirrored the tone and values of Franklin Roosevelt’s administration that it represented - and to show how the power of this propaganda effort transitioned from a positive and hopeful position to one steeped in a wartime economy and fear. This exploration doesn’t discount the importance of the original Progressive vision of the New Deal, in my opinion. If anything, it raises questions about priorities, democratic values and what works to motivate the human spirit in the face of adversity.
 
Earlier this week, we announced an exciting partnership with The Historic New Orleans Collection that adds 49 new posters to the comprehensive archive. Many of the beautiful posters in this collection were generated toward the end of the WPA Poster Division around 1942 – and specifically for what became the WPA War Poster Services dept. until it was entirely disbanded in 1943. They share a style and tone with other WPA posters from that same time period. Examples from that moment represent the abandonment of Progressive economic recovery that focused on rebuilding infrastructure in favor of a wartime economy.
 
What’s more striking, though, is their shift away from a visionary, hopeful and positive ideal of a better America to a more suspicious and fearful tone that includes jarring racist imagery. Propaganda has always had the potential to be used in this way. It seems easier to get attention with scare tactics and divisive messages than solutions and vision represented with mature resolve. Maybe it’s because the end results are hard to imagine and even harder to attain – requiring an unwavering commitment to values that feels impossible.
 
This is where strong leadership is critical. The role of propaganda is to convey the value of specific ideas held by a culture - often through strong leaders. Its job is to convince viewers to act in ways that support those ideas. It is very powerful and carries a lot of responsibility - and their makers know it. That’s why the WPA posters that are racist and demeaning are especially disappointing. They don’t just represent a limited view by the designer - they represent the ruling power. Even worse, they represent the worst tendency in human nature to debase others as a way to elevate power itself. It’s too easy. These kinds of posters miss the opportunity to face the creative challenge of engaging the viewer, while still representing difficult decisions with democratic and moral values.
 
We include these posters in the archive because our goal is to document and present ALL of the posters that were created under this government program. Excluding them would erase an ugly truth. But, we have made it a policy not to sell any reproductions of posters that contain racist or demeaning content.
 
One of the things I like the most about Posters for the People is its surprising relevance to today. The idea of building a strong America that values health, culture, education and enterprise never grows old. We need that now just as much as when Roosevelt campaigned for a fearless New Deal. Sadly, the same tired fear mongering that took over in his third term is rearing its head today. We are reminded of mistakes like Japanese-American internment that shouldn’t be allowed to happen again just because we were willing to sacrifice our commitment to freedom and democracy out of fear.
 
Our country’s current leader, President Obama, summoned the courage of that commitment nicely in his last State of the Union address this week.
 
“That's why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith…When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer. That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country.”
 
It’s not an easy position to uphold when we are scared of real and present danger. And that’s why reinforcing such a message is so important.

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49 New Posters Added to Archive!

1/14/2016

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We are excited to start off this 80th Anniversary year of the WPA Poster Division with a collection of new poster images courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection.
 
The private collection in New Orleans has the largest set of pre-war and wartime posters we’ve seen and adds 49 new items that aren’t documented in any other archive!
 
This is also an important find because the beautifully design posters are uncharacteristically signed by the artists who created them. Most shops in the poster division did not permit workers to credit their art (you might find some hidden signatures throughout the archive, though!)
 
Some of these posters raise difficult questions about the types of messages and images designed by this propaganda effort of the Roosevelt administration. While we take very seriously the job of documenting ALL posters created under the WPA, we also have made it a policy not to sell any reproductions of the few posters that depict racist of demeaning content.
 
More of the posters are just really great examples of the public issues of the era. We hope you enjoy looking through this new addition to the public record!

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May 16th Event on Roosevelt Island!

4/27/2015

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Join us to learn more about the posters of the WPA at this FREE silkscreen and book talk event in Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
1pm - 4pm


During the depths of the Great Depression, the U.S. government became a vital patron of the arts, employing hundreds of artists to create millions of posters promoting positive social ideals and programs as well as a uniquely American way of life. Over 35,000 posters were made during this time.

Throughout the day, you will have the opportunity to screen-print your own Four Freedoms poster (and other WPA designs) during a hands-on workshop. At 2:30pm, you will hear from the Posters for the People's book author and founder of Social Impact Studios, Ennis Carter, about the impact of WPA and her efforts to continue its legacy. Please see below for directions and registration information. 

Register Here

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    (U.S. Works Progress Administration 1935-1943)

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