Archive of the Mendocino Heritage Artists
WPA Project: YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY AT Hollenbeck Middle School
In 1938 Dorr Bothwell painted Youth and Democracy, a 200 foot long frieze, or mural, in the auditorium foyer of the Hollenbeck Middle School in Los Angeles, California.
![Youth and Democracy (detail 01), a mural by Dorr Bothwell (1938). The mural was a WPA Federal Art Project, at Hollenbeck Middle School, Los Angeles. Casein paint (dimensions: about 2' x 200'). Photo: Melissa Lamont, San Diego State University.](https://www.williamzacha.com/wp-content/uploads/Dorr-Bothwell/art/DB193890_Youth-and-Democracy_01_Dorr-Bothwell_hollenbeck-middle-school_los-angeles_melissa-lamont_SDSU.jpg)
![Youth and Democracy (detail 02), a mural by Dorr Bothwell (1938). The mural was a WPA Federal Art Project, at Hollenbeck Middle School, Los Angeles. Casein paint (dimensions: about 2' x 200'). Photo: Melissa Lamont, San Diego State University.](https://www.williamzacha.com/wp-content/uploads/Dorr-Bothwell/art/DB193890_Youth-and-Democracy_Dorr-Bothwell_hollenbeck-middle-school_los-angeles_melissa-lamont_SDSU_detail.jpg)
The Hollenbeck Middle School project was sponsored by the WPA (1935-1943), a large and successful New Deal program, designed to provide work for the unemployed, and to benefit communities during the Great Depression.
![](https://www.williamzacha.com/wp-content/uploads/Dorr-Bothwell/photos/1938_dorr-bothwell_photo-portrait.jpg)
In the chapter “How I Spent the Depression” DorrĀ Bothwell describes the standards she needed to meet in order to qualify for a WPA job. Dorr Bothwell: Straws in the Wind: An Artist’s Life as told to Bruce Levene (pp 65-72).
LINKS
WPA Project: The De Anza Monument (1940)
The WPA & Dorr Bothwell
Dorr Bothwell: Artwork
Dorr Bothwell
Barebones Bothwell
Mendocino Heritage Artists
Welcome