Depression Era Art

1929-1939

Key Ideas

• Response to the Great Depression• Recognizes the plight of the destitute• Social concerns shown

Dorothea Lange American

• Documentary photography of migrant workers in California (deserted camp)

Migrant Mother. 1935. Photograph.• Mother as symbol of despair, anxiety,

strength and determination• Poverty shown by material• Mother’s face framed by turned children

Edward Hopper, American

Nighthawks. 1942. Oil on canvas.

•Simple composition•Empty streets – loneliness of city life•No interaction •Clear forms

Jacob Lawrence, American

Migration of the Negro #38

•Collective African-American experience•Flat, simple shapes•One of a series of 60 paintings depicting the migration of African-Americans from the rural South to the urban North•Part of the Harlem Renaissance

Grant Wood, American

American Gothic. 1930. oil on beaverboard.

•Regionalist painter focused on rural Iowa subjects•Represents a father and daughter•Expression of hostility/disapproval•May represent the hardiness of the American (maybe not!)