Realism in the United States took a hard look at the nation's political and social conditions.
c. 1930 - 1945
videos + essays
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Ben Shahn, Miners’ Wives
An explosion in a mine kills 111, Shahn captures the devastation of those left behind.
Reginald Marsh, Wooden Horses
According to the artist (Reginald Marsh), at Coney Island, “The best show is the people themselves.”
Romare Bearden, Factory Workers
During World War II, racism flourished the United States even as the war effort sought to bring people together.
Todros Geller, Strange Worlds
Geller captures the tensions of the Jewish immigrant experience in the early 20th-century United States.
Grant Wood, Parson Weems’ Fable
Wood infuses a famous folktale about George Washington with theatricality, humor, and a Gilbert Stuart sample.
Norman Rockwell, Rosie the Riveter
Representing women who entered the workforce during WWII, Rosie is strong, determined, and eating a ham sandwich.
Grant Wood, American Gothic
Though often thought of as a simple image of American values, this painting resists easy interpretation.
Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti
Shahn makes an not-so-subtle comparison between Christ and two Italians executed for a crime they didn’t commit.
Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series
Lawrence carefully documents the migration of African Americans from the agricultural South to the industrial North.
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks
Hopper gives us a window into the urban isolation and anxiety of WWII-era New York.