On your wall
The WPA & the Golden Age · See America / Cities & States
Visit the zoo (three penguins)
Works Progress Administration, 1936
What it is
A 1936 color woodcut poster for the Works Progress Administration, unattributed, reading "Visit the zoo" over three penguins. It survives in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Why it matters
The WPA put artists to work in the Depression, and their poster shops turned out cheap, printable civic invitations - here, a nudge to the local zoo. The woodcut was a democratic medium by design: carved by hand, printed in flat runs, meant for a wall rather than a frame. That it carries no signature is the point of the program, which valued the useful image over the individual name.
What to notice
See how the birds' black backs are simply the uncarved block inked, while the white of the board does the fronts - no third tone, just cut and not-cut.
Reduced to a stance repeated three times, and legible from across the street.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Printer / house
- Woodcut, color
- Format
- Travel poster
- Poster published
- Works Progress Administration, 1936
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN94502931 (cph.3h00056 / cph.3f05604)
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
