Kristen Simpson

Maggie Phillips

Sarah Messer

Social Realism (American)

1920s-1940sArt with social

commentaryEveryday Americans

Social Realism

Reactions

Positive Negative

Made Americans face harsh realities

Sometimes offended those pictured

Helped America through the Great Depression

Misunderstood, underappreciated, considered ugly

*More positive reactions to Regionalism (happier, proud, hardworking Americans) than to American Scene painting, photography & other commentary focused works, although all considered Social Realism

Ashcan SchoolArtists often traveled to

France to studyArtists often left-wing

& politically activeMexican MuralistsGreat DepressionNew Deal Federal Art

ProjectRegionalism/Second

WaveNewspaper Muckrakers

Context & Influences

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Important Artists

Lithuanian immigrant > NYC

Worked with Diego RiveraPolitically active, social

commentaryTrademark jagged nervous

lines

Ben Shahn

The Passion of Sacco & Vanzetti, c. 1932

Martin Luther King Jr. Lithograph, c. 1965

Born on Midwest farm

Regionalism

Art was easy to understand & relate to

PatrioticPopular

during lifetime

Grant Wood

American Gothic, c. 1930 Woman with Plants, c. 1929

Missouri nativeRegionalismPainted murals, farm landscapes & hardworking

MidwesternersMentor to Jackson PolluckCombined modern & traditional art principlesStrong, unapologetic style & personality

Thomas Hart Benton

American Historical Epic c. 1928

Photographer Interest grew – Great

DepressionFarm Security AdministrationReports of all lifeEstablish migrant campsGet subjects helpInternment camps

Dorothea Lange

Art Analysis

Dorothea Lange

Migrant Mother

Florence Owens Thompson

Migrant Mother

Contrast of European Gothic Architecture and American Farmhouse

Staged the perfect American farm couple

American Gothic

Won 3rd place at an Art Show

American Gothic became an American Icon

Wood gained recognition from this painting

American Gothic

Ben Shahn, c. 1932Inspired by case of 2 executed Italian-

Americans accused of armed robberyEvidence distorted & destroyed by stateSentenced & electrocuted anyway

The Passion of Sacco & Vanzetti

Depicts protestors, lawyers, & judgesRacism, corruption of the judicial systemComparisons to ChristTheme of martyrdom & injustice

The Passion of Sacco & Vanzetti

Other Prominent Artists

Painter/printmakerSatireStudio in Boston

slumsThemes of political

corruptionCriticized by Pres.

EisenhowerPope was a fan,

“always welcome in the Vatican Museum”

Jack Levine

Election Night, c. 1969

Painter from KansasRural MidwestImportant in RegionalismGenerally conservative in

political contentObserved & captured what he

saw, accidentally controversial

Popular amoung Americans, but not as much with native Kansans, who often thought they were being made fun of

John Steuart Curry

Comedy, c. 1934

Important Farm Security Administration photographer

Goal to make photographs "literate, authoritative, transcendent“

Works were icons of the misery & poverty during the Great Depression

Walker Evans

Alabama Tenant Farmer, c. 1936

Painter“Dynamic

Cubism”Focused on

exposing African American struggles

Trademark lively, decorative masks

Harlem NYC

Jacob Lawrence

Migration Series, Panel 1, c. 1940-41

Cartoonist/ painter/ lithographer/ muralist

Focused on human tragedy caused by injustice

Involved in Communist movement

William Gropper Youngstown Strike, c. 1937

Search for truthReality TVMotivated social changeArt should be about expressing one’s

surroundings, NOT abstract ideasArt should be easy to understand by

the public“Art as a weapon”

So what?