America Is Hard to See

May 1–Sept 27, 2015

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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.