Hall, Daniel August, 1937-

Daniel Hall was a student in Arizona State University's Graduate School of Art, where he earned an MA in 1974. His thesis topic was Arizona artists involved in the Works Progress Administration's Public Works of Art Project that the United States government instituted in the 1930s to put artists to work and celebrate American cultural heritage.

The Public Works of Art Project was one of the first of the U.S. federal art programs conceived as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Its purpose was to prove the feasibility of government patronage. It was organized in December 1933 within the Department of the Treasury with funds from the Civil Works Administration and aimed at giving meaningful work to unemployed artists. It was directed by the financier and painter Edward Bruce and emphasized the American scene as subject matter initiating about 700 mural projects and creating nearly 7,000 easel paintings and watercolors, about 750 sculptures, more than 2,500 works of graphic art, and numerous other works designated to embellish nonfederal public buildings and parks. (Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 25, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/482579/Public-Works-of-Art-Project.