Pictured: Carl W. Peters, Study for “Active Life” Mural. (1937–38). Gift in memory of the friendship of Ellen W. and Thomas H. Miller with Blanche and Carl W. Peters.
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. Read the press release.
Read a copy of Jessica Marten’s feature on Carl W. Peters and the Rochester WPA Murals in the October copy of the American Art Review.
Programs and Events
- Saturday, 10/17, 8–11 pm: Members’ Opening Party | get tickets
- Sunday, 10/18 @ 10 am, all-day symposium: “The Rochester WPA Murals: History/Legacy” (limited spaces remain) | learn more
- Sunday, 10/18 @ 3 pm, film screening: Enough to Live On: The Arts of the WPA | learn more
- Wednesday, 10/21 @ 4:30 pm: Especially for Educators inservice | learn more
- Sunday, 11/1 @ 2 pm: Michael Lasser presents “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee: Songs of the Great Depression” | learn more
- Sunday, 11/15 @ 2 pm, film screening: Enough to Live On: The Arts of the WPA | learn more
- Nine Saturdays starting 9/26:
“Thinking Big,” teen/adult mural painting class (Creative Workshop)
see catalog
