Lost New Deal Artwork

City Landscape, 1936
Oil, by Francis Criss. 25" x 29". Last known location: Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse, 46 East Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN.

The Nesters, 1937
Oil, by Tom Lea. 6' x 11' 6". Commissioned under the Section of Painting and Sculpture. Contracted: December 15, 1935. Installed: March 18, 1937. Last known location: Benjamin Franklin Post Office, 12th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.

The Nesters mural was originally installed in the entrance vestibule of the Benjamin Franklin Postal Station in 1937. Records report that the mural was removed sometime around 1947 in order to expand the facility or to install lock boxes. The mural was rolled-up and supposedly hand-delivered to the Office of the Supervising Architect, but after leaving the post office the paintings' whereabouts were never officially documented, and they remain unknown. It’s believed that the mural may have been stored in the Washington Auditorium in the Civil Service Building, but the building was demolished, and it is unlikely that we will ever know for sure.

Early Documentation of The Nesters Mural
The installation of Lea’s mural was documented in the Washington Daily News on Friday, March 12, 1937.

Tom Lea, One of Many Noteworthy New Deal Artists
At the time of The Nesters’ installation, Tom Lea, at 29 years old, was already gaining acclaim for his art, and he would become just one of the many noteworthy American artists commissioned under the New Deal programs, including Philip Guston, Moses Soyer, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Jacob Lawrence, Ivan Albright, Marsden Hartley, Philip Evergood, and Mark Tobey.

Identifying WPA Art
Since the General Services Administration set out on its mission to track down lost New Deal art in 2001, the project has recovered at least 55 missing pieces, but the investigation is ongoing, and the GSA heavily relies on the help of others, including museum staff members, art dealers, appraisers, lawyers, and even private individuals, to notify them when a piece of New Deal art is discovered and suspected to be federal property.

What's the easiest way to identify a piece of New Deal WPA artwork? In many cases, it's simply to look for the WPA labels that were affixed to many of them when they were created.

A Clear Sign of WPA Art
Another clear indication that a piece of artwork belongs to the federal government — frame tags that read "Works Projects Administration" — the new name given to the Works Progress Administration in 1939.

The Boulder Dam Series: 11 Paintings by Stanley Wood
Stanley Wood's Boulder Dam Series is high on the GSA's most-wanted list of missing New Deal artwork. Created under the Public Works of Art Project (1933-1934), the 11 watercolors chronicle the building of the Boulder Dam (renamed Hoover Dam in 1947.) The GSA is currently in possession of two of the paintings from the series, but the rest have not been documented since 1934, when photos of the paintings were featured in the May issue of Fortune magazine. (The paintings in The Boulder Dam Series were never named by the artist himself, but they were given descriptive captions in Fortune, which we've reproduced here.)

Downstream Face, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood.

Agitators Going Down to Penstocks, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Water Entering the Turret Will Become Power, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Boulder Dam: ADIT Nevada Site, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Knee High to Its Future, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Scaler, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Mixing Plant, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Boulder Dam: Nevada Site, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.

Powerhouse Abutments, The Boulder Dam Series
Watercolor, Stanley Wood, ca. 1933.