The Wealth of the Nation

This mural was one of two painted in 1938 for a new building slated to be the Social Security Administration, in Washington, DC. The two make a case for the benefits of a social safety net and coordinated management of the US economy. "Wealth of Nations" shows a scientist, architect, and three factory workers against a planar, modernisti backdrop of industrial utopianism. The companion mural, The Security of the People (1938) depicts the domestic benefits of a planned economy: adequate food, healthy children, the luxury of education and personal development. It's here that a woman makes an appearance in the mural, as a mother. The two murals were installed in 1940, although without the intended tenant; a series of federal agencies has occupied the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, currently the subject of dispute amid proposals to sell off the property and its famous murals.

Works Consulted: history of Fogel murals at the Cohen Building by Living New Deal Link; biography of Seymour Fogel at Wikipedia Link

Fogel, Seymour (1911 - 1984)

Photo courtesy Voice of America, via Wikimedia Commons

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Mural painting on canva

14 1/2 x 7 1/2 ft.