Four Phases of Labor

Oil painting on canvas titled “Four Phases of Labor” by Virginia Pitman. This New Deal era mural depicts scenes of people at work. It is divided into several sections. One shows men in a factory. Another depicts a group of shirtless men on a mast. Lumberjacks cut down trees in a winter scene.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Roosevelt in 1935. It was part of the New Deal plan to lift the United States out of the Great Depression. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work. In Wyoming, the New Deal art programs were less about relief and more about bringing the arts to the people.