Early Modern Blog Exhibit
During the Great Depression the most common type of artwork is realism, this era was full of pain and suffering. The Great Depression caused the stock markets value to drop 60% and the family incomes dropped by 40%. Due to this economic crisis people expressed the despair, cruelty, and harsh conditions in their artwork.
Departure of the Joads from the Grapes of Wrath, Thomas Benton 
In this painting is a family loading up and getting in their decrepit car to take them from Oklahoma to California. This was painted in 1939 at the end of The Great Depression. Colors do so much for paintings; they add texture, show depth, fullness, etc. This painting shows all of those elements. This is a realism painting; this shows the harsh times during this time. A father has to load his large family into a car that may not make it all the way to California for a job opportunity; times were very tough during The Great Depression and people had to make due with what they could at the time to survive.
Family Flats, Millard Sheets
This was painted in 1933-1934 in Los Angeles, the painting is now located in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This painting is similar to a lot of the artwork during the Great Depression, it is a great example of realism artwork. This painting captures the struggles of people during this difficult time. This painting depicts the poor families living their daily lives. The women have just finished hanging laundry, women standing on the stairs gossiping, etc. The thing about realism that makes it a fantastic is how real and accurate it is. This painting shows the harshness of what people were going through during this time, and I think that is better than photographs. With photographs you only capture something if you get it at the precise time, but with realism these artists see something and can paint anything they saw. Although this painting does not have different colors, the shading makes a huge difference with adding to the emotion and to the tone of the painting. The shading and lines allowed us to see the people's faces which is something you don't see enough of.
I do really like this painting, it is deep and has great shading which is my favorite part. This painting is sad for many reasons, but the biggest reason is because of how poor the conditions these people lived in were. A home is supposed to be somewhere you can go to relieve your stress and where you can escape from the harsh reality of life, but these people did not have that luxury.
The New Road, Grant Wood
This is not the typical painting from the Great Depression and that is why I not only chose this one, but saved it for last. This painting is an example of regionalism. This was painted in 1939 by the leading midwestern American regionalist painter in Iowa. This shows a beautiful landscape of the route between Cedar Rapids and Lake Macbride. During this time you see a lot of dark paintings that are full of emotions and make you feel for the people who had to live through that. This painting is full of hope and I feel shows where one would go to escape their reality. As I described above a home is supposed to be somewhere you go to escape reality, but because of the economic crisis and the start of WWII no one's home is really an escape. The color contrasts in this painting show depth and texture. I also really like this picture because I like the idea of hope it brings and it also shows how some people can still be positive during terrible times like this.
Works Cited
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/tenement-flats-22262
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.143168.html
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61105.html
Hi Haley, I loved reading your Early Modern Era Blog post. I think you did a great job analyzing each piece of art and relating it to the Great Depression. I love that you chose to compare, admire, and appreciate three paintings. I really like how you chose the first two paintings to be black and white and the third one used a variety of colors. I think all three paintings are related to the theme and the Great Depression, in the first painting we see large family loading up into a small car to go to another state for a job opportunity. Many people were losing their jobs and their homes during the Great Depression and this family decided to pack up as much as they could and travel to find an opportunity to have a better life. In the second picture we see the crowded living situations that were taking place during the Great Depression. The third painting was more of a sign of hope during the Great Depression. It was full of color, contrast, and texture, it gave people a sense of hope that the Great Depression wasn't going to be so bad. overall, I really enjoyed reading your blog, I think your first painting was a great way to show others that during the Great Depression many people were losing their jobs and having to move to a new place to find something better. Great blog post Haley!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley,
ReplyDeleteThe first piece from Thomas Benton is indicative of the hard and troubled times the Great Depression was on people, especially Oklahoma and the midwest in general as it was ravaged by the storms of the dust bowl. As someone who has been forced to move around a lot growing up its always heart breaking to have to leave everything you knew behind even if its for better opportunities for both you and your family.
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ReplyDelete(edited)
DeleteThe first painting I find interesting because not only does it use dark colors all over to depict the sadness and pain of the period, but also how desolate the landscape is. I think this was intended to further show what it was like during this time period.
The other two works are pretty interesting, the second showing so many people living in such close proximity, and the third being hopeful. The third painting is more along the lines of something I'd want to own because the work creates a more hopeful atmosphere than the previous two.