A group of artists led by Elise Engler, Joyce Kozloff, and Martha Rosler has circulated a letter urging the Jewish Museum in New York to intervene and save New Deal-era murals and sculptural reliefs from the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C. The artworks, created by Jewish artists including Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Seymour Fogel, are threatened with demolition after the U.S. government listed the building for accelerated disposal in November 2025 and began soliciting demolition bids in December. The letter, addressed to Jewish Museum board chair Shari Aronson, has been signed by hundreds of artists and art-world figures, including Joan Semmel, Rochelle Feinstein, Joan Snyder, Lucy Lippard, and Kay WalkingStick.
The letter highlights the U.S. government's poor record of preserving public art and specifically references Shahn's mural suite '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, which the artists argue gives the institution a moral and cultural stake in preserving these works. The effort matters because it underscores the ongoing vulnerability of public art to federal property disposal processes and the role of cultural institutions in advocating for preservation, especially when the artists' Jewish identity adds historical and communal significance to the cause.