The latest attempt to save the New Deal-era artwork from the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C., involves a letter written by a group of artists urging the Jewish Museum in New York to save the murals and sculptural reliefs created by Jewish artists like Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Seymour Fogel.
The letter, addressed to Shari Aronson, chair of the board of the Jewish Museum, was written by artists Elise Engler, Joyce Kozloff, and Martha Rosler, and has been signed by hundreds of artists and artworld figures. Hyperallergic first posted about the letter. Some of the high-profile signatories include Joan Semmel, Rochelle Feinstein, Joan Snyder, Lucy Lippard, and Kay WalkingStick.
The Cohen building opened in 1940, and initially housed the Social Security Administration (then known as the Social Security Board), with interior artworks—murals, sculptures, reliefs—that reflected its mission. In 1954, Voice of America (a government funded news organization) moved into the building, but the Trump administration suspended its broadcasts in October.
The building is known as the “Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art.” In November 2025, the U.S. government listed the building (along with 44 others) for “accelerated disposal,” which would allow a quick sale with limited public input. A month later, the White House was found to be soliciting bids for the building’s demolition.
The letter to the Jewish Museum specifically mentions Shahn’s suite of murals The Meaning of Social Security, Guston’s Reconstruction and Well-Being of the Family, and Fogel’s Wealth of the Nation and The Security of the People. Both Shahn and Guston recently had exhibitions at the Jewish Museum. “The United States has a woeful record of respecting, preserving, and restoring its public art, especially compared with older and less wealthy countries,” the letter notes.
