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2022, Whose America?
CWA stands for “Civil Works Administration,” a short-term job creation agency that provided construction work for unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. Limbach depicts three sturdy men standing in the foreground, shoveling dirt along the water. In the background, smaller men in profile appear to be depositing the dirt atop two hills, perhaps building a levee. The details of their faces are not visible, putting more focus on the labor of their bodies. As we can see here, they are hunching over, emphasizing their strength while working together to improve America’s infrastructure.
Russell Limbach was a printmaker from Ohio. He worked under the Federal Arts Program (FAP), a program that provided income to artists working in various media. Russell was the head of the Graphics Division of the FAP in New York.
Text by Cecilia Nuño-Maciel, Washburn student