From no deal to New Deal: how Boris Johnson could follow FDR and save the arts

Workers unite! … detail of a fresco at Coit Tower, San Francisco, painted in 1934 by Victor Arnautoff.
"As America struggled with the Great Depression in 1933, 25 artists were hired to paint murals depicting aspects of Californian life on the walls of Coit Tower in San Francisco. They were paid at least $25 a week – the equivalent of about £400 today. Tasked with beautifying public buildings, the artists seized the chance for some mischief. Bernard Zakheim’s mural depicts a worker in a library, screwing up a newspaper with one hand and reaching for Das Kapital on a shelf with the other. Clifford Wight’s triptych depicts capitalism, the New Deal and communism, with the latter panel containing a hammer and sickle and the caption 'Workers of the World Unite'. After a virulent press campaign, the hammer and sickle were removed a year later. ..."
Guardian
Coit Tower Politics

2014 March: Victor Arnautoff