The WPA & the Golden Age · Reading & the Stage
East side, West side exhibition of photographs
Federal Art Project, Photography Division, 1938
What it is
A 1938 silkscreen exhibition poster for the Federal Art Project's Photography Division show, East Side, West Side. The Library of Congress lists it unattributed; Commons ties it to Anthony Velonis.
Why it matters
The Federal Art Project's poster division put artists on the government payroll and screen-printed shows into being; this one advertised the Photography Division's own exhibition. The design argues for the medium by being about it: a man at his camera, the city rising behind him, the exhibition's subject doing the selling. Velonis helped make silkscreen the division's workhorse, and this is that method advertising a show of photographs.
What to notice
The composition folds back on itself, the photographer at his camera with the buildings stacked up behind him, the picture-taker inside the picture.
The camera pointed at the city, and the poster pointed at the camera.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Format
- Exhibition poster
- Poster published
- Federal Art Project, Photography Division, 1938
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN 98501280
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. government program work (WPA Federal Art Project), any year. Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 18x24" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
