The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recovered another piece of Works Progress Administration (WPA) artwork last week.
The WPA woodcut print by Isami Doi, Near Coney Island, had been listed for sale on eBay by a seller in Brooklyn, New York. After it was determined that the photograph of the artwork contained a WPA label, the GSA Fine Arts Program Office notified the OIG. When OIG agents contacted the eBay seller, they learned that the artwork had been in the seller’s family for 50 years and that the seller had recently taken possession of it upon his father’s passing. Without incident, OIG agents retrieved the woodcut print and returned it to GSA.
The artwork has now been returned to the care and custody of the U.S. Government and will be cataloged and conserved by the GSA Fine Arts Program Office while they locate a suitable place for public display.
To learn more about the OIG’s WPA artwork recovery effort, visit our page on it.
Image of Near Coney Island woodcut print
