The WPA & the Golden Age · See America / Cities & States
Punch & Judy
Work Projects Administration / Sioux City Art Center, 1940
What it is
A WPA silkscreen printed on board, this poster advertised a Punch & Judy presentation at the Sioux City Art Center; the Library of Congress records a verso stamp reading "Feb 5 1940".
Why it matters
The design is stripped to bust illustrations of the two quarrelling puppets, the kind of blunt, high-contrast figure work that reads across a lobby at twenty feet.
What to notice
Two puppet busts, screened flat and loud, summon an audience to Punch & Judy at the Sioux City Art Center.
Made by artists on the public payroll — art the country already owned.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Format
- One-sheet
- Poster published
- Work Projects Administration / Sioux City Art Center, 1940
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN98512440 (cph.3f05247)
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
