Artists Call on Jewish Museum's Support to Save New Deal-Era Murals

"The letter co-authored by artists Elise Engler, Joyce Kozloff, and Martha Rosler, reproduced in full at the end of this article, urges the museum and the larger arts community to "speak now on behalf of our artist predecessors" as Trump officials move to expedite the sale of the Cohen Building and, activists fear, demolish it altogether, art and all."

"The Stripped Classicist behemoth anchored just across the National Mall, completed in 1940 as the Social Security Administration's headquarters, now houses the offices of Voice of America and the US Agency for Global Media, both of which Trump has dismantled. Inside and outside the building, murals by Guston, Shahn, Fogel, and sisters Ethel and Jenne Magafan, among other prominent names, stand as a poignant testament to the life-sustaining promise of a social safety net."

"The works, many painted or carved directly into the structure, portray mothers holding their babies, unemployed laborers, an elderly couple, and an unhoused child sleeping in the street - just some of the populations that benefited from the Social Security Act, passed in August 1935 as part of the New Deal program."

The Wilbur J. Cohen Building in Washington, DC contains New Deal-era murals by artists including Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, Seymour Fogel, and Ethel and Jenne Magafan. Hundreds of artists and cultural workers have signed a letter urging the Jewish Museum in New York to take a leading role in salvaging the building and its artworks. Trump administration officials are moving to expedite the sale of the Cohen Building, and activists fear possible demolition that would destroy murals painted or carved directly into the structure. The murals depict beneficiaries of the Social Security Act, including mothers with babies, unemployed laborers, an elderly couple, and an unhoused child.

Read at Hyperallergic