The WPA & the Golden Age · Reading & the Stage
Federal WPA Variety Theatre presents vaudeville
Richard Halls · Federal Art Project, New York City, 1936
What it is
Richard Halls designed this 1936 Federal Art Project poster for a Federal Theatre Project vaudeville programme, its bill running from Tumble In and the Leddy Brothers to Emil Jarrow and the Dance Parade Review.
Why it matters
A man caught mid-song dominates the sheet, drawn in the flat, poster-weight colour that hand-cut silkscreen stencils demanded. The verso carries a June 4, 1937 date stamp. Printed on board, one screened colour layer at a time, in the New York City shop of the Federal Art Project.
What to notice
A singer mid-note, flung across a silkscreened poster for a nine-act WPA vaudeville bill.
Made by artists on the public payroll — art the country already owned.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Designer
- Richard Halls
- Format
- Theater poster
- Poster published
- Federal Art Project, New York City, 1936
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN 98516047 (cph.3f05318)
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
