The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

Social Movements

Arts

This collection uses primary sources to explore social realism in American art.

*Photograph of Young Driver in Mine*, 1908, by Lewis Hine. 

This portrait of a young miner was taken by Lewis Hine, one of the earliest social realist photographers, for the National Child Labor Committee. His work is often called “documentary” because it used images to tell the stories of people’s lives. 

*Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery to Reconstruction*, 1934, by Aaron Douglas. 

Aaron Douglas, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, took on social justice in his art, including this mural called *Aspects of Negro Life* at The New York Public Library.


The jacket from a 1937 book—*You Have Seen Their Faces*—which highlights the work of American documentary photographer Margaret Bourke-White. 

Racial inequality, as depicted in this 1935 photograph by Ben Shahn, was a topic of interest to the social realists. 

Many of Thomas Hart Benton’s paintings and prints, including this lithograph *White Calf* from 1945, told the stories of rural Americans. 

Excerpt from the novel *A Sign for Cain*, 1935, by Grace Lumpkin.

Grace Lumpkin was one of the foremost writers of social realist literature. Her book *A Sign for Cain*, from 1935, is considered an important example of writing about Depression-era economic and racial inequality.

*Relief of miners working*, 1937-1938, by David Swing.

Social realism could be found in all forms of art. This relief, along with several others about the industries of Arizona, was set into the grandstands at the Arizona Exposition and State Fair. 

An excerpt from the catalog to a 1939 exhibition of works from the Federal Art Project at the de Young Museum.

The Depression-era Works Progress Administration not only supported the creation of works of social realism, but also promoted a democratic approach to the creation and appreciation of art by employing thousands of jobless artists and putting their works where the public could interact with them, including in schools, post offices, libraries, and other community-centered spaces.

An excerpt from an interview with Dorothea Lange, 1964, as part of the New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project. 

In this interview, Lange discusses her experience with the New Deal Farm Security Administration, and the act of photographing a struggling society.

A 1936 photograph by Dorothea Lange, *Migrants. California*.  

 Dorothea Lange’s photographs put a human face on the poverty affecting so many during the Great Depression.

Walker Evans titled this 1937 photo *Negroes in the lineup for food at mealtime in the camp for flood refugees, Forrest City, Arkansas*. 

A Metropolitan Life exhibit, 1939 World’s Fair, captioned “Life insurance funds make possible the security for those whose work is done.” 

Social realist murals often portrayed important events or represented concepts such as “industry,” “strength,” or “fortitude.” This one promotes the idea of “security.”

*John Brown*, a lithograph by John Steuart Curry from 1939, depicts Brown’s growing agitation and the “storm” it provoked. 

A 1937 mural of a textile worker from the thirteen-part fresco by Ben Shahn and Bernarda Bryson Shahn for a post office in Bronx, NY. 

Arthur Rothstein, a Farm Security Administration photographer, captured this social realist bas-relief by Lenore Thomas Straus in 1937. 

This sculpture was created for the New Deal-era Resettlement Administration’s planned community of Greenbelt, Maryland. The text is from the US Constitution. 

Questions

1. Using the items in this set, explain the primary concerns and themes of social realist art from the 1930s.
2. Using the [excerpt from the catalog](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/social-realism/sources/682), explain the relationship between social realism and the goals of the Works Progress Administration art projects. Where did these intersect? Where might they diverge?
3. Interpret the social issue explored in the [Walker Evans photograph](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/social-realism/sources/685). How does Walker Evans express his message through the composition of the photograph?
4. Examine the items in this set that are murals (or frescos, which is a type of mural). What opportunities did murals afford social-realist artists that traditional paintings did not?
5. Many social-realist photographers are also considered part of the documentary tradition. What is the relationship between documentary photography and social-realist art in their work? Use photographic sources in this set to support your answer.

Activity

Ask each student to select a piece of art in this set. In independent research projects, students should seek out additional context for their piece and use this information to develop a detailed interpretation. Each should write a brief interpretive essay that summarizes the context of the artwork and explains how the artist’s choices create meaning.

For background information, research and identify:

* the artist.
* the environment or experience that provided inspiration.
* the social issues depicted. 

For interpretation, consider various aspects of the piece.

* Emphasis: Where is the viewer’s eye drawn? How is this effect created by the artist?
* Proportion: Which items are larger and smaller? Which items are in relationship to each other?
* Perspective: From which vantage point does the viewer look at the subject? How does this impact what the viewer sees?
* Color: How does color emphasize particular items or create contrast?

Teaching Guide: Exploring Social Realism

Resources

1. [Social Realism](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA03/staples/douglas/socialrealism.html), University of Virginia. 
2. [Picturing the 1930s](http://americanart.si.edu/education/picturing_the_1930s/), Smithsonian American Art Museum. 
3. [Social Realism](http://www.theartstory.org/movement-social-realism.htm), The Art Story: Modern Art Insight. 

Overview

Social realism was an art movement, associated with the era of the Great Depression in the US (roughly the 1930s), that depicted the everyday realities of life. Social realism was critical of the social, economic, and racial conditions that made life challenging for the working classes and poor. Social realism in the US took the form of painting, photography, literature, printing and drawing, sculpture, and more. Many of the artists were employed as part of the Depression-era programs of the New Deal, namely the Farm Security Administration and the Works Progress Administration. The resources in this set highlight the artists, art forms, and the subject matter that were central to the social realist movement.

English

Social Realism

social-realism_15_a0a6190b368f6f701f3adc6de02e0113.jpg

Rothstein, Arthur, “Bas-reliefs. Greenbelt school, Maryland,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/a0a6190b368f6f701f3adc6de02e0113.

Arthur Rothstein, a Farm Security Administration photographer, captured this social realist bas-relief by Lenore Thomas Straus in 1937.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 15 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Social Realism