WPA Hollenbeck Mural

Archive of the Mendocino Heritage Artists

WPA Project: YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY AT Hollenbeck Middle School

In 1938 Dorr Bothwell painted Youth and Democracy, a 200 foot long frieze, or mural, in the auditorium foyer of the Hollenbeck Middle School in Los Angeles, California.

Youth and Democracy (detail 01), a mural by Dorr Bothwell (1938). The mural was a WPA Federal Art Project, at Hollenbeck Middle School, Los Angeles. Casein paint (dimensions: about 2' x 200'). Photo: Melissa Lamont, San Diego State University. — Youth and Democracy (detail 01), a mural by Dorr Bothwell (1938). Casein paint (dimensions: about 2′ x 200′). Photo: Melissa Lamont, San Diego State University.

Youth and Democracy (detail 02), a mural by Dorr Bothwell (1938). The mural was a WPA Federal Art Project, at Hollenbeck Middle School, Los Angeles. Casein paint (dimensions: about 2' x 200'). Photo: Melissa Lamont, San Diego State University. — Youth and Democracy (detail 02). Photo: Melissa Lamont, San Diego State University.

The Hollenbeck Middle School project was sponsored by the WPA (1935-1943), a large and successful New Deal program, designed to provide work for the unemployed, and to benefit communities during the Great Depression.

What was the WPA?

Dorr Bothwell (1938).

In the chapter “How I Spent the Depression” Dorr Bothwell describes the standards she needed to meet in order to qualify for a WPA job. Dorr Bothwell: Straws in the Wind: An Artist’s Life as told to Bruce Levene (pp 65-72).

LINKS
WPA Project: The De Anza Monument (1940)
The WPA & Dorr Bothwell
Dorr Bothwell: Artwork
Dorr Bothwell
Barebones Bothwell
Mendocino Heritage Artists
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