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AmericanSocial Realism

Nicole FudeLindsay MagaldiGrant Mckinney

What is it?Mainly focuses on lower-class Americans in urban settings, and on their hardships and surroundings

Attempts to create art that is truly American in subject and style (rather than copying European innovations and movements)

Rejects the abstract styles that many modern art movements utilized

Mediums include, but not limited to, photography, prints, etchings, and of course, different methods of painting like oil and watercolor

Social Realism was developed as a reaction against idealism and the exaggerated ego encouraged by Romanticism. Consequences of the Industrial Revolution became apparent; urban centers grew, slums proliferated on a new scale contrasting with the display of wealth of the upper classes. With a new sense of social consciousness, the Social Realists pledged to “fight the beautiful art”, any style which appealed to the eye or emotions.

● They focused on the ugly realities of ● contemporary life and sympathized with ● working-class people, particularly the ● poor. They recorded what they saw (“as it ● existed”) in a dispassionate manner. The ● public was outraged by Social Realism, in ● part, because they didn't know how to look ● at it or what to do with it

Two AmericanRealist Movements

Scene Painting/Regionalism

Focuses on settings and objects distinctly identifiable as American

Often depicts farmers and their work

Champions values such as hard work and independence

Promotes American patriotism and nationalism

Social Realism Focuses on lower-classes, particularly those of New York Immigrants and laborers are common subjects Draws attention to poor living conditions Often promoted communist sentiment

Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother(1936)

Compare/ContrastSocial Realism Regionalism

Grant Wood, American Gothic(1930)

Influences on Social Realism

Robert Henri and his Ashcan Artists hold the "Independent Exhibit of Artists" in 1910, with many paintings depicting New York City and the lower classes.

The Progressive Era brought "muckrakers", journalists who went to great lengths to find the truth and to spread awareness of social problems.

Finally, the Great Depression convinced many that capitalism had failed. It also inspired some artists to portray the hardship around them.

Diego Rivera

Born in Mexico in 1886, died in 1957

Helped found the Communist Party in Mexico

Mainly a painter of murals that portrayed the everyday life and work of the lower class

One famous mural displayed in the Detroit Institute of Art is Detroit Industry (1933)

Detroit Industry, 1933

The Arsenal, 1928

Edward Hopper

Born in 1882, died in 1967 One of Robert Henri's students, but he considered himself separate from the "Ashcans" Preferred to paint scenes with very few people depicted

Girl at Sewing Machine, 1921

Automat 1927

Dorothea Lange

Born in 1895, died in 1965 Worked as a photographer during the Depression, documenting the plight of the poor and homeless

Migrant Mother, 1936

The White Angel Breadline, 1933

Ben Shahn

Born in Lithuania in 1898, died in 1969.

As such, he had a lot of sympathy for immigrants, demonstrated by his series of paintings known as The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti

Worked with Dorothea Lange during the Depression, taking photos to document the poverty

The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1932

Lest We Forget, 1937

Reginald Marsh

Born in France in 1898, died in 1954

Portrayed lots of New York street life

Also had a fondness for portraying women in provocative positions

● Usherette, 1939

The Park Bench, 1932

Jacob Lawrence

Born in 1917, died in 2000.

Lawrence's paintings are less "realistic" than that of other social realists

He created "sets" of paintings, almost like a comic strip

He based many paintings on his experiences and his observations in Harlem

Carpenters, 1977

The Migration of the Negro, panel 1, 1941