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Taxation for (Artistic) Creation: Benjamin, Roosevelt, & Obama

Walter Benjamin wrote his critical essay “The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936) at the height of The Great Depression in America. Though German by birth and residing in Europe, Benjamin essentially penned a swan song to the direct engagement of artistic labor, relevant to American political interests of the time.

By “American Political Interests”, I refer to The New Deal, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s monumental stimulus plan, engineered to pull the US economy up by the bootstraps…literally. Using government funds to endow a host of be-acronymed projects (WPA, CCC, NRA…), Roosevelt created and sustained paying work for artists, artisans, musicians, skilled craftsmen, and laborers. Thus, the economic pump-priming phenomenon was born. By actively attaching artists back to their work rather than disengaging creators from their work, the Nation recovered from the ground up via buying power returned to the citizenry.

Woman selling homemade jam at a WPA-supported farm stand

Freshly-sworn-in President Barack Obama aims to re-create the value-based work of FDR, ushering in a “New, New Deal”. As concerned citizens and art-makers, we must ensure that the aforementioned (very important!) aspect of FDR’s epic program, allotting provisions for artists and craftsmen is included. I will elaborate…

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), spearheaded by Harry Hopkins, did massive public works projects across the country. During its 8 year run, the WPA employed about 2 million people per year, including children, the elderly, and the handicapped. With an initial principal of $4.8 trillion, it funded an incredible number of unique programs, ranging from reforestation to theater construction. In Philadelphia, for instance, architectural landmarks such as 30th Street Station, the Customs House and Rittenhouse Town and Valley Green were projects of the WPA.

The facet of the WPA of most interest to me was the employment program for practicing artists. The Federal Art, Writers, and Theatre Projects gave unemployed artists, musicians, writers, playwrights, and actors the opportunity to support their families while utilizing their technical and creative skills.

Projects included:
- Murals, paintings, posters (see below), and sculptures for schools and post offices, and other government buildings
- Traveling performances of old plays
- Community orchestra and choir concerts
- Writing and publishing regional guidebooks and sociological studies (see below)

Not only did these projects support American creativity in a time of loss, but they jump-started the dissemination of cultural knowledge to areas of the country previously disconnected from the flows of art and literature.

And how does all this history-mongering apply to today’s issues?

Last Friday, an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal:
SHINING EXAMPLE: A NEW DEAL GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING
Leslie Hook, the opinion columnist, expressed respectful, yet negative sentiments toward Timberline Lodge, a ski resort in Oregon built as a WPA Project in 1937. While Hook acknowledges the artistic beauty of the building and its surroundings, she sees this as, ultimately, a waste of government money. Ms. Hook, I beg to disagree.

How incredible is it that we live in a nation that would pay artists to do their craft?

Of all ways to spend our tax dollars, this makes more sense to me than funding Wall Street bailouts. While working on the Art In The Age store, I have had the honor and pleasure of becoming acquainted with some byproducts of the WPA, which I find invaluable:

- An excellent quilt pattern book and portfolio sponsored by The Reading Library and the WPA. (Imagine the government sponsoring quilters!) The book and folio are available exclusively at Art in the Age.
- A commemorative book of WPA Poster art published by Quirk Books. The collection is stunning, extensive, and inspirational for me in my design practices.

So today, I raise my glass three times to great men, born before me…

Once to Walter Benjamin, champion of the fine arts and those who pour their hearts into the practice thereof.

Twice to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. To his stubborn grit in and the halcyon days of The New Deal that ensued, amidst a backdrop of fear and turmoil.

And a last and most hearty toast (and entreaty) to President Barack Obama, that his policy-making be sustained in hope and progress, while giving respect and provision to the artists and craftspeople who work to kindle innovation and fuel our country every day.