America Is Hard to See | Art & Artists

May 1–Sept 27, 2015

Exhibition works

23 total
Fighting with All Our Might
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Fighting with All Our Might

Floor 7
Fighting with All Our Might
Floor 7

Following the catastrophic stock market crash of October 29, 1929, many American artists committed themselves to using the expressive power of their art in the struggle for social change. By 1933, one quarter of the workforce was unemployed and signs of the Great Depression were everywhere: homeless men, women, and children; soup kitchens; shantytowns; protests, strikes, and lockouts.

Artists worked to document these problems and also to ameliorate them. Some joined the government programs formed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which aimed to revive the nation by creating jobs, aiding farms and small businesses, and regulating finance. Photographers such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange were hired to document farm life for the Resettlement Administration; printmakers working for the Federal Art Project made more than 11,000 prints. Some of these artists were committed to Roosevelt’s progressivism, while others went so far as to become members of the Communist Party of the United States. As the printmaker Mabel Dwight observed: “Art has turned militant. It forms unions, carries banners, sits down uninvited, and gets underfoot. Social justice is its battle cry.” As military preparations for World War II revitalized industry and the economy recovered, many artists shifted their attention to the war and the threat of fascism, continuing to agitate for a more just and humane world.

Below is a selection of works from this chapter.

From left to right: (top) Hale Aspacio Woodruff, Giddap, 1935, printed 1996 (98.22.4); (bottom) Hale Aspacio Woodruff, By Parties Unkown, 1935, printed 1996 (98.22.2); (top) Jose Clemente Orozco, Negroes, 1933 (33.83.6); (middle) Lamar Baker, Fright, 1936-1937 (96.68.4); (bottom) Louis Lozowick, Lynching, 1936 (94.155); Paul Cadmus, To the Lynching, 1935 (36.62); Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931-1932 (49.22); (top) Benton, ; (middle) Fletcher Martin, Trouble in Frisco, 1936 (96.68.207); (bottom) Herschel Levit, Pieta, c. 1939 (97.111); (top) Dorothea Lange, Demonstration, SF, 1934 (P.2014.86); (bottom) Dorothea Lange, Howard Street, 1934 (P.2014.85); (top) Jacob Burck, The Lord Provides, 1934 (33.83.2); (middle) Louis Lozowick, Strike Scene, 1935 (2007.54); (bottom) Kyra Markham, Lockout, 1937 (38.19). Photography by Ronald Amstutz.

INSTALLATION VIEW

Bernarda Bryson Shahn (1903-2004), A Mule and A Plow, 1935-36. Photo-offset lithograph: sheet (sight), 38 × 25 in. (96.5 × 63.5 cm); image, 29 5/8 × 23 in. (75.2 × 58.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Jake Milgram Wien in honor of the 95th birthday of Bernarda Bryson Shahn 98.97.1 Art © The Estate of Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Licensed by VAGA, New York

BERNARDA BRYSON SHAHN (1903-2004), A MULE AND A PLOW, 1935-36

Harry Sternberg (1904–2001), Southern Holiday, 1935. Lithograph: 23 7/8 × 17 7/8in (60.6 × 45.4cm); image, 21 3/4 × 15 3/4in. (55.2 × 40 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.292 © Estate of Harry Sternberg; courtesy of Mary Ryan Gallery, New York

HARRY STERNBERG (1904–2001), SOUTHERN HOLIDAY, 1935

Hale Aspacio Woodruff (1900-1980), Coming Home, c. 1931-1946, printed 1996, from Hale Woodruff: Selections from the Atlanta Period 1931-1946. Linoleum cut with chine-collé: sheet (irregular), 9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in. (25.2 × 20.2 cm); image, 9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in. (25.2 × 20.2 cm); mount, 19 1/8 × 14 15/16 in. (48.6 × 37.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of E. Thomas Williams, Jr. and Auldlyn Higgins Williams 98.22.3 Art © Estate of Hale Woodruff, Licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y.

HALE ASPACIO WOODRUFF (1900-1980), GIDDAP, 1935, PRINTED 1996

Lamar Baker (1908-1994), Fright, 1936-37. Etching and aquatint: sheet, 15 7/8 × 11 1/2 in. (40.3 × 29.2 cm); plate, 10 13/16 × 8 1/2 in. (27.5 × 21.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.4 © artist or artist’s estate

LAMAR BAKER (1908-1994), FRIGHT, 1936-37

Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), Merchants of Death, 1935. Lithograph, sheet (Irregular): 9 15/16 × 14 3/8 in. (25.2 × 36.5 cm) image: 8 1/16 × 13 in. (20.5 × 33 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.94 © artist or artist’s estate

MABEL DWIGHT (1876-1955), MERCHANTS OF DEATH, 1935

Hugo Gellert (1892-1985), Fighting with All Our Might, 1943. Screenprint and lithograph: sheet (open), 20 × 32 in. (50.8 × 81.3 cm); sheet (folded), 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm); image, 15 × 13 in. (38.1 × 33 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Print Committee 2013.62.17 © Estate of Hugo Gellert, courtesy Mary Ryan Gallery, New York

HUGO GELLERT (1892-1985), FIGHTING WITH ALL OUR MIGHT, 1943

Philip Guston (1913-1980), Drawing for Conspirators, 1930. Graphite pencil, pen and ink, colored pencil, and wax crayon on paper, 22 11/16 × 14 9/16 in. (57.6 × 37 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Hearst Corporation and The Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, Inc. 82.20 © The Estate of Philip Guston

PHILIP GUSTON (1913-1980), DRAWING FOR CONSPIRATORS, 1930

Philip Guston was just seventeen years old when he made this drawing. As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, he had seen members of the Ku Klux Klan, and this work was probably based on that experience. From an early age, Guston was involved in left-wing politics and his sociopolitical concerns are clearly demonstrated in this boldly depicted scene. Dramatic modeling and the looming presence of the central figure convey the theme of oppression, as does the symbolic rope that hangs over blocks representing Louisiana and Mississippi. Guston’s visual analogy between the victim of a lynching and the crucified Christ can be seen at the back of the composition. The hooded figure in the foreground recurs throughout Guston’s work.

Soldiers in foreground and a tank in the desert.
Soldiers in foreground and a tank in the desert.

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Beachhead, 1947. Egg tempera on composition board, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger  51.13

© 2009 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

JACOB LAWRENCE (1917-2000), WAR SERIES: BEACHHEAD, 1947

In 1946, just a year after completing his World War II service with the Coast Guard, African American artist Jacob Lawrence began work on the fourteen paintings that comprise the War Series. The images are based on the artist’s own experiences and present a narrative, like chapters in a book. Lawrence said that he wanted these works “to capture the essence of war” by “portraying the feeling and emotions that are felt by the individual, both fighter and civilian.” Historically, paintings of war have most often emphasized the triumph of victory. In these images, however, heroism cannot be separated from drudgery and suffering, nor is victory free from sorrow and loss.

A lithograph of Central Park and the shanty town that used to be there.
A lithograph of Central Park and the shanty town that used to be there.

Louis Lozowick, Hooverville, 1932. Lithograph: sheet (irregular), 14 15/16 × 10 7/8 in. (37.9 × 27.6 cm); image (irregular), 11 3/4 × 8 in. (29.8 × 20.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.203 © Estate of Louis Lozowick; courtesy Mary Ryan Gallery, New York

LOUIS LOZOWICK (1892-1973), HOOVERVILLE, 1932

A man sits at a table, staring off into the distance with his closed fists on top of a newspaper
A man sits at a table, staring off into the distance with his closed fists on top of a newspaper

Alice Neel, Pat Whalen, 1935. Oil, ink, and newspaper on canvas: 27 1/8 × 23 1/8 in. (68.9 × 58.7 cm); image, 26 3/4 × 22 7/8 in. (67.9 × 58.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Dr. Hartley Neel 81.12. © The Estate of Alice Neel. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London

ALICE NEEL (1900-1984), PAT WHALEN, 1935

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Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931–32

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Adam Weinberg: Alan Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

Alan Dershowitz: Felix Frankfurter was the lawyer who in fact tried to save the lives of Sacco and Vanzetti after they had been falsely convicted, falsely in the sense that the evidence used against them was questionable.

The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, by Ben Shahn, shows four villains, judges, very distinguished Massachusetts citizens, standing over the coffins of the recently executed victims of the injustice, Sacco and Vanzetti. The people standing over the coffin, in the center, A. Lawrence Lowell, the bigoted president of Harvard University, who was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts to be the chairman of the commission to review the Sacco-Vanzetti case. Lowell was an admitted racialist. He believed in racial quotas. He established them at Harvard. His two compatriots were the president of MIT and a retired judge named Grant. 

Standing over them, almost hovering above them, is the Judge Webster Thayer who presided over the trial, and made a mockery of justice. He told people he was out to get these radical Italians, and he would not rest until they were in their graves. 

The case itself was a simple armed robbery in Braintree, Massachusetts. A paymaster was shot and killed. Nobody will ever know whether Sacco and Vanzetti, or Sacco or Vanzetti, were responsible for the killings. That’s become lost in the evidence that was distorted and destroyed by the state. 

They were sentenced to death, and the execution was carried out after many many protests and much turmoil. And the legacy of Sacco and Vanzetti will live on. And we will long understand the real villains of the case were the judges and the university presidents who lent the legitimacy and the legitimacy of their institutions to a case of racism and injustice.

Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931–32

In America Is Hard to See

BEN SHAHN (1898-1969), THE PASSION OF SACCO AND VANZETTI, 1931-32

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