American painting in the 1930s and 40s is marked by developments in
Regionalism, Social Realism, and Modernist techniques like
Precisionism.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Compare and contrast the painting styles of Regionalism, Social Realism, Precisionism, and
Abstract Modernism.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
When the Great Depression hit, president Roosevelt's New Dealcreated several public arts
programs in order to give work to artists and decorate public buildings, usually with a national
theme.
Regionalism, also known as American Scene Painting, developed in reaction
to abstract modernism and rapid industrialization and instead depicted American small towns
and rural landscapes.
Closely related to Regionalism, Social Realism was an artistic movement which depicted social
and racial injustice and economic hardship through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles.
By 1930, various forms of Modernism had entered popularculture, characterized by a tendency
toward abstraction, innovation, futuristic themes, and a rejection of European influence.
Precisionism, strongly influenced by Cubism and Futurism, depicted themes of industrialization
and the modernization of the American landscape with precise, sharply defined, geometrical
forms.
TERMS [ edit ]
Surrealism
An artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by
emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious.
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs enacted in the United States by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, between 1933 and 1936. The programs were in response to the Great
Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief for the unemployed and poor,
Recovery of the economy to normal levels, and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat
depression.
Give us feedback on this content: FULL TEXT [edit ]
Painting in America during the 1930s and
1940s is marked by several stylesthat
developed simultaneously, and sometimes
in opposition to each other. The dominant
styles of the time include Regionalism,
SocialRealism, Precisionism,
and Abstract Modernism.
New Deal Art
When the Great Depression hit, president
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Roosevelt's New Deal created several
public arts programs. The purpose of the programs was to give work to artists and decorate
public buildings, usually with a national theme. The first of these projects, the Public Works
of Art Project (PWAP), was created after successful lobbying by the unemployed artists of the
Artists' Union. The PWAP lasted less than one year, and produced nearly 15,000 works of art.
It was followed by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FAP/WPA)
in 1935, which funded some of the most well-known American artists.
The style of much of the public art commissioned by the WPA was influenced by the work of
Diego Rivera and other artists of the contemporary Mexican muralismmovement. Several
separate and related movements began and developed during the Great Depression including
Regionalism and Social Realism, along with Modernist trends.
Regionalism
Regionalism, also known as American Scene Painting, developed in reaction to the Armory
Show and abstract modernism, and instead depicted American small towns and rural
landscapes that conveyed a sense of nationalism andromanticism of everyday American life.
Some did so as a way to return to a simpler time away from industrialization, whereas others
sought to make a political statement and lent their art to revolutionary and radical causes.
Representative artists include Thomas Hart Benton, John Rogers Cox, Grant Wood, John
Steuart Curry, Alexandre Hogue, Dale Nichols, William S. Schwartz, John Stockton de
Martelly, Frederic Jamesand Pat Potucek,many of whom were associated with the Kansas
City Art Institute.
Social Realism
A closely related movement to Regionalism, Social Realism was an artistic movement which
depicted social and racial injustice and economic hardship through unvarnished pictures of
life's struggles. Artists often depicted working-class activities as heroic, and many conveyed a
message of social or political protest edged with satire. Many artists who subscribed to Social
Realism were painters with socialist (but not necessarily Marxist) political views. American
Social Realism includes the works of such artists as those from the Ashcan School, including
Edward Hopper, Ben Shahn, Rafael Soyer, Isaac Soyer, Reginald Marsh, Jack Levine and
others.
Abstraction and Precisionism
Not all of the artists who emerged in the years between the wars were Regionalists or Social
Realists. By 1930, various forms of Modernism had entered popular culture.
Characteristically, modernist art has a tendency to abstraction, is innovative,aesthetic,
futuristic and self-referential. Economic and technological progress in the U.S. during the
Roaring Twenties gave rise to widespread utopianism, which influenced some modernist
artists, while others were skeptical of the embrace of technology. The victory in World War I
confirmed the status of the U.S. as an international player and gave the people selfconfidence and a feeling of security. American modernism marked the beginning of American
art as distinct and autonomous from European taste by breaking artistic conventions that had
been shaped after European traditions until then.
Georgia O'Keeffe was a major figure in American Modernism who received widespread
recognition for challenging the boundaries of modern American artistic style. She is chiefly
known for paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones and landscapes in which she
synthesized abstraction and representation. African-American painterAaron Douglasis one of
the best-known and most influential African-American modernist painters, who contributed
strongly to the Harlem Renaissance and the development of an aesthetic movement that is
closely related to distinct features of African-American heritage and culture.
Blue and Green Music by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1921
Georgia O'Keefe was a major figure in American Modernism, and synthesized abstraction and
representation in her works.
Arthur Doveused a wide range of media, sometimes in unconventional combinations to
produce his abstractions and his abstract landscapes. Milton Avery's paintings, often nearly
abstract, had a significant influence on several of the younger artists who would soon become
known as Abstract Expressionists. Joseph Cornell, inspired by Surrealism, created
boxed assemblages incorporating found objects and collage.
Precisionism was an artistic movement that emerged in the United States after World War I
and was at its height during the inter-War period. Influenced strongly
by Cubism and Futurism, its main themes included industrialization and the modernization
of the American landscape, which were depicted in precise, sharply defined, geometrical
forms. The themes originated from the streamlined architecture and machinery of the early
1900s. Precision artists considered themselves strictly American and tried to avoid European
artistic influences. Precisionist artists have also been referred to as "Cubist-Realists",
"Sterilists", and "Immaculates", and their art would have an influence on the magic
realism and pop artmovements. Charles Demuth , Edward Hopper, Edmund Lewandowski,
Charles Sheeler,andHerman Trunkwere prominent Precisionists.
Chimney and Water Tower, 1931. Charles Demuth (1883–1935)
Charles Demuth was a prominant Precisionist painter, depicting themes of American industrialization
with precise geometrical forms.