On your wall
The WPA & the Golden Age · See America / Cities & States
Visit the zoo - Philadelphia
Works Progress Administration, 1936
What it is
A color woodblock print on board, made for the Works Progress Administration around 1936 to draw Philadelphians to their zoo. The designer went unrecorded, as much WPA poster-shop work did.
Why it matters
The WPA put unemployed artists to work making posters for public campaigns, and this one belongs to that Depression-era program of civic messaging - go see the zoo, spend an afternoon in your own city. Among its siblings, most of which were silkscreened for speed, this Philadelphia sheet was cut and printed the slower, more physical way, which is why it survives as an object with a maker's hand still in it.
What to notice
Look at the hippo's edges - chiselled, not squeegeed, with grain and gouge marks left visible in the ink where the tool crossed the block.
A day at the zoo, carried on a few planes of carved wood.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Printer / house
- Woodblock, color, on board
- Format
- Travel poster
- Poster published
- Works Progress Administration, 1936
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN94502736 (cph.3b51495)
Live trademark
Philadelphia Zoo — sold here as history, never adopted into this house’s own branding.
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
