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Design Excellence and the Arts -->
Legal Fact SheetIn recent years, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has received numerous inquiries regarding the legal ownership, title, and responsibility for works of art produced under the various New Deal art projects of Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration. The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 transferred all functions of the Federal Works Agency, including much New Deal artwork, to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Not all artwork produced during the New Deal period from 1933 – 1943 is federal property. For example, for prints such as etchings, lithographs, etc., where more than one copy or print of the work was produced, the artist was allowed to retain one print for his possession. Some works of art have transferred to the private sector through building conveyance or sale. There are many cases where New Deal works of art have been purchased in good faith or acquired through justifiable means by the American public. Citizens have also saved New Deal artwork from disposal or destruction. Others have contacted GSA regarding works they retrieved from schools, government buildings, or that have been handed down from family members. GSA applauds these individuals for their cooperation and works with them to find appropriate public institutions that will make these works of art available to the American people. As we approach the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal, we celebrate this unique period of federal patronage of the arts. Many of these works of art are lost forever. We cannot correct past mistakes, but we can strive to prevent the recurrence of such errors in the future. It is our responsibility to inform art dealers, appraisers, the museum community, and the general public of the legal title to these New Deal works of art. To this end, we researched original procedures and directives pertaining to legal status of these New Deal works of art and produced the fact sheet below, Legal Title to Art Work Produced Under the 1930s and 1940s New Deal Administration. Our goals are to educate and inform people of the ownership issues, to catalog these New Deal works of art that are federal property, and effect their placement in appropriate public institutions or return to GSA so that we may preserve them for future generations.
Last Reviewed 8/18/2008
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