Research Paper on "Social Realism and the Great Depression"

Research Paper 3 pages (1168 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Social Realism and the Great Depression

The social realism movement actually began in the 19th century, according to sociologist and social anthropologist Peter Worsley. It was an art movement based on depicting persons and landscapes just as they are seen with the naked eye. It was adopted by American painters in the early 1900s, Worsley writes, and became "particularly important during the Great Depression" (late 1920s and early 1930s) (Worsley, 2010, p. 2). Worsley notes that social realism, during the Great Depression, was seen as a movement to depict injustice, economic hardship, and the pain people were struggling with during the Depression.

Worsley explains that "realism" reveals exactly what the eye sees, and the original realism movement actually grew out of the invention of photography, as artists wanted to create painting that showed things as "objectively real." "Realism" was certainly the main thrust of the social realism movement during the Depression because the paintings and photography showed hungry people waiting in line for a bowl of hot soup, men breaking rocks, hobos hopping on a train, a mother comforting a hungry child while father hitchhikes with his thumb out.

On a broader scale, Worsley continues, social realism is a continuation of the "realist" movement in French art in the 1800s; a good share of the artists who used the genre of social realism were "socialists," according to Worsley; not Marxist per se but socialist in philosophy, he points out. Realism in fact is the opposite of "Romanticism" (Worsley, p. 2). And in fact realism was a rebellion against "exaggerated emotionalism," he adds.

The "Ashcan School" painters actually originated American Social Realism, according to Worsley (p. 3). The Ashcan School talent depicted the "commonplace, gritty, and unglamorous realities of city live"; they were led by painters like John Slone, Robert Henri, George Bellows, and George Luks (Worsley, p. 3).

Meanwhile during the Depression, painters working in the social realism genre were relating "sociopolitical commentary," Worsley writes. Joblessness, political corruption and grim poverty were themes embraced by artists like Ben Shahn, Philip Evergood, Charles White, Jack Levine and William Gropper. All of these artists were employed at one time by the WPA.

The Federal Art Project (FAP) was one of the New Deal features that helped put people to work. It ran from 1935 to 1943, according to the Illinois State Museum (ISM) Website. Many people who had lost their jobs in businesses but had artistic talent were given an opportunity to earn some money. "It was the largest and most long-lived of all the New Deal visual arts programs" and the FAP didn't dictate to the artists what style they could use or what their themes would have to be. But it was obvious that the main theme running through the country was the Great Depression, so many of the artists used that theme and included poignant expressions on faces to go along with the general tone of pathos.

A painted plaster 48 inches tall (in the museum) is pictured on the ISM site -- a man and woman, the woman holding a child -- is called "Rural Couple with Child." Another work on exhibit in the museum in Illinois is a painting by Joseph Vavak called "Give"; it shows three men, one with his tin cup extended in his right hand and his left hand's palm extended outward; another playing a violin; a third using a cane and looking seriously stressed (ISM).

Among the most well-known of the Great Depression artists was Thomas Hart… READ MORE

How to Reference "Social Realism and the Great Depression" Research Paper in a Bibliography

Related Research Papers:

Realism and the End of the Cold War Seminar Paper

Realism and the End of the Cold War

The field of international relations has always been dominated by one theory or another that tried to explain, through different mechanisms and… read more

Seminar Paper 3 pages (1070 words) Sources: 0 Topic: World History

---

Twentieth Century Theater the Group Theater Believed Term Paper

Twentieth Century Theater

The Group Theater believed that theater was an active concept, which relied on the self-defining nature of the movements within it; in many ways this ideology, seen… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1785 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Film / Movies / Television

---

Influence of Economic and Social Changes to Illustration Thesis

History Of Illustration

Illustration and the Influence of Social Change and the Economy

Illustrators provide their audience with a glimpse into the workings of the society in which they live.… read more

Thesis 11 pages (2908 words) Sources: 4 Style: Chicago Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

1800 CE to the Present Assessment

AD to Present

The Civil War

Julia Ward Howe composed her "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the tune of "John Brown's Body," which the Union soldiers sang in the… read more

Assessment 10 pages (3003 words) Sources: 0 Topic: World History

---

Grapes of Wrath Thesis

Grapes Wrath

The Depression Era as Seen Through the Grapes of Wrath

The Great Depression marks a modern nadir for the social and economic conditions persisting in America. A perilous… read more

Thesis 4 pages (1335 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>