Get an artistic look at history with a new exhibition opening at Brenau University.

“Historical Perspectives: A New Deal” opens at 6 p.m. today in the Castelli Gallery of the Burd Center for Performing Arts on Academy Street. The show opens with a wine and cheese reception and a presentation by Brenau Art Professor Mary Beth Looney, who curated the show.

The exhibition features work from Brenau’s permanent collection produced in the 1930s by American artists such as Rico LeBrun, Childe Hassam, Maurice Sterne and Albert Abramowitz.

The artists worked in the federal government’s Works Progress Administration. In exchange for pieces of art produced for libraries, schools and other public buildings, the WPA provided the artists a livelihood during the Great Depression.

Although Looney concedes that the Federal Arts Project of president Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” initiative is a controversial topic, she said the exhibition has significance.

“Against the uniquely political landscape of this time of year, we feature works by artists who may have sustained lengthy careers in part because they were encouraged in a similarly challenging economic climate” by a federal program, she said.

“I cannot say with absolute certainty that the pieces you will see in this exhibition were produced while the artists were ‘federal government employees,’ but they were from that era and there is a good chance that some of them were.”

The event is free to the public, and the exhibition will run until Jan. 6.