Devotion (WPA)

Hyman Katz

Polish-born Hyman W. Katz was a New York artist from the Great Depression era, and though he did not attract much attention from critics and society earlier in his career, his work displayed sensitivity and simplicity. His work was known for its unique strength in perspective in such a bleak time. Through the Works Progress Administration hired Katz and he was commissioned to do a number of original etchings. Later in his life, he received recognition, and critics and art collectors took appreciation for Katz's take on social realism.

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt founding the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) programs as a way of putting artists to work. Over 5000 artists worked for the WPA in 8 divisions, including murals, photography, design, sculpture, easel painting, etc. The Graphic Arts Division created over 200,000 prints from some 11,000 original works, most printed in editions of under 25. The works were meant to be shown decoratively in public institutions such as schools or libraries.

Many of the artists employed in the project had immigrated from Europe earlier in the century and had been trained in European schools. They were familiar with the art movements that had been happening in Europe and had a chance to do some experimenting and teaching the younger American artists working with them. The program included artists of various ethnic and social backgrounds, both men and women. Ideas were exchanged and many lines were drawn, often between the traditional Regionalists, the Social Realists, and the Modernists, (which included the Surrealists and the Abstractionists), but all learned from one another.