# WPA Silkscreen Posters

> Posters made by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration to promote health campaigns, education, theatre, travel and the national parks during the Depression. Unemployed artists adapted commercial silkscreen to print runs by hand, which gave the work its flat, opaque layered colour, simplified stylised forms and clear geometric lettering in a public-service voice.

- Period: 1935–1943
- Where: North America
- Origin: Federal Art Project poster divisions, New York City and other US cities
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: Federal Art Project posters, New Deal posters
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/wpa-poster/

## How it works

- Build the image from a few opaque, flat silkscreen layers, each colour a separate hand-cut stencil.
- Simplify figures, landscapes and objects into bold, stylised masses with clean edges.
- Pair one central image with a short message in clear, often geometric sans-serif capitals.
- Keep the palette restrained and slightly muted: earth tones and slate blues with one warm accent.
- Address the public directly and constructively: inform, encourage and invite rather than sell.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Misregistration & overprint](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/misregistration-and-overprint/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Flat vector illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-vector-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (defining)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (occasional)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (occasional)

Avoids: Abundant decoration, Horror vacui, Blackletter, Eclectic mixing, Whiplash line, Luxurious & glamorous

Palette: #efe6cf, #222222, #3d5a7a, #c8622d, #d9a441, #6f7a45

Typefaces: Hand-cut stencil lettering in geometric sans-serif capitals, Futura (Paul Renner, 1927) and similar geometric sans-serifs, Condensed gothic poster capitals

Known for: WPA Federal Art Project Poster Division, New York City; Richard Floethe (art director, New York City poster division, 1936–1939); Anthony Velonis (introduced silkscreen printing to the poster division); Federal Theatre Project posters; WPA posters for the National Park Service; Library of Congress, 'By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936–1943'

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Art Deco](https://stylogeny.com/styles/art-deco.md) (1910–1939)
- Influenced by: [Plakatstil / Sachplakat](https://stylogeny.com/styles/plakatstil.md) (1905–1920)
- Influenced by: [Russian Constructivism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism.md) (1917–1934)
- Led to: [Puerto Rican Silkscreen Poster (DIVEDCO & ICP)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/puerto-rican-silkscreen-poster.md) (1946–1989)
- Alike in its design choices: [Cuban Revolutionary Poster (OSPAAAL & ICAIC)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cuban-poster.md) (1960–1990), 77% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ukrainian Wartime Graphics (Saint Javelin, War Stamps and Be Brave Like Ukraine)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ukrainian-wartime-graphics.md) (2022–present), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [South African Resistance Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/anti-apartheid-poster.md) (1978–1994), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Australian Poster Collective Screenprints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/australian-poster-collectives.md) (1971–1994), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Estado Novo Folk Modernism (SPN)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/estado-novo-folk-modernism.md) (1933–1949), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chicano Screenprint Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chicano-poster.md) (1965–present), 63% alike

## Real works

- [Unfair to babies](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unfair_to_babies_LCCN93511162.jpg): Erik Hans Krause (WPA Federal Art Project), between 1936 and 1938, Library of Congress, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [The great crippler – syphilis](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_great_crippler_-_syphilis_LCCN98516349.jpg): WPA Federal Art Project, Nassau County, N.Y. (initials 'JD'), 1936 (LoC date-stamp Dec 1 1937), Library of Congress, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Books are weapons – Schomburg Collection of the New York Public Library](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Books_are_weapons_LCCN98516622.jpg): NYC WPA War Services, Federal Art Project (initials 'J.P.'), between 1941 and 1943, Library of Congress, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Grand Canyon National Park, a free government service](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Canyon_National_Park,_a_free_government_service_LCCN2007676131.jpg): WPA Federal Art Project for the National Park Service, 1938, Library of Congress, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [W.P.A. Federal Theatre Project Living Newspaper presents "Power" by Arthur Arent](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W.P.A._Federal_Theatre_Project_Living_Newspaper_presents_%22Power%22_by_Arthur_Arent_LCCN98514343.jpg): WPA Federal Art Project, New York City, between 1936 and 1938, Library of Congress, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (via Wikimedia Commons)

## Sources

- Library of Congress, 'Posters: WPA Posters' collection (loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos/)
- Christopher DeNoon, Posters of the WPA (1987)
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “WPA Silkscreen Posters”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/wpa-poster/