# @hyperallergic on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DT-z8PXkSZ7
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/54416910-hyperallergic-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/7646d8aaba.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-01-26T16:58:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Hyperallergic (@hyperallergic) — https://gondola.cc/hyperallergic

## Caption

Hundreds of artists and cultural workers have signed a letter encouraging the Jewish Museum in New York City to take a leading role in salvaging the Wilbur J. Cohen Building in Washington, DC, which houses a trove of New Deal-era murals including works by Jewish artists Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Seymour Fogel. Co-authored by artists Elise Engler, Joyce Kozloff, and Martha Rosler, the letter is reproduced in full in the article by valentina.diliscia on Hyperallergic. 

Completed in 1940 as the Social Security Administration’s headquarters, the Cohen Building, a Stripped Classicist behemoth anchored just across the National Mall, now houses the offices of Voice of America and the US Agency for Global Media, both of which Trump has dismantled. Inside and outside the building, murals by Guston, Shahn, Fogel, and sisters Ethel and Jenne Magafan, among other prominent names, stand as testament to the life-sustaining promise of a social safety net. It is hardly surprising that the Trump administration, whose policies put millions of Americans at risk of losing essential services, is now targeting this monument to social assistance by moving to expedite the sale of the building and, activists fear, and, demolish it altogether.

While several petitions are already circulating, Engler, Kozloff, and Rosler believe that the Jewish Museum, with its recent major exhibitions of Shahn and Guston, is well-positioned to take a stance on the issue — and inspire other institutions to follow suit.

To read the letter and the rest of the story, visit our link in bio.
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#WilburJCohenBuilding #JewishMuseum #Murals #BenShahn #SocialSecurity #Landmark #DC #Trump

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## Tags

dc, jewishmuseum, socialsecurity, murals, wilburjcohenbuilding, trump, landmark, benshahn

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