1. Social Realism
JESSIKA ANDERSON
ANNIE PERKINS
JORDAN BAER

2. Introduction
 Focused on the reality of the life of the working class
and the poor.
 Aimed at social change.
 Defined primary by the message and political
meaning, not style.

3. Introduction
 Real life images.
 Can be in the form of paintings or photography.
 Usually painted in a naturalistic, descriptive style.
 Typically convey a message of social or political
protest.

4. Major Artists
 Dorothea Lange
 Grant Wood
 Ben Shahn
 Jacob Lawrence

5. Dorothea Lange
 Photographer
 Most famous image was Migrant Mother.
 During World War Two she documented the
interment of Japanese Americans in camps.
 Focused on women and minority groups at work in
shipyards.

6. Dorothea Lange
 Her work reflects insight, compassion, and empathy
for her subjects.
 Documented the suffering of the dispossessed in
breadlines and labor strikes.
 Worked for the Farm Security Administration as a
part of a team who documented the impact of federal
programs in improving rural conditions.

7. Migrant Mother 1936

8. On the Road

9. California at last

10. Grant Wood
 Most famous painting is “American Gothic”.
 Drew pictures of things and people that he knew.
 His paintings show the love that he had for people
and the customs of Midwestern united states.

11. Grant Wood
 During the depression, people liked to look at his
paintings to make themselves feel better.
 Started an art colony and designed one of the largest
stained glass windows ever.
 Paintings had a fairytale look about them.

12. American Gothic- 1930

13. Woman with plants

14. Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

15. Ben Shahn
 Immigrated here from Lithuania in 1906.
 Developed a keen sense of observation.
 He witnessed many social problems and experienced
some himself because he was Jewish.
 Assistant of Diego Rivera.

16. Ben Shahn
 Held strong socialist views.
 Often inspired by news reports.
 Joined the Public Works of Art project and
completed many murals that dealt with anti-
semitism and working conditions.
 Produced pictures for the office of war information
and the congress of industrial organizations.

17. Mural for Community Center, Jersey
Homesteads

18. Jacob Lawrence
 Favored abstract models of expression.
 Depicted the African American experience.
 Images reflect his keen observation of the sights and
sounds of Harlem.
 Used simplified forms, patterns, repetition, and bold
color to express mood and meaning.

19. Migration of the negro series- 1940

20. Migration of the negro series- 1940

21. On the Way- 1990

22. Origin
 Ashcan School Painters- American realist painters
based in New York City.
 Depression Era- artists began to grapple more with
jobs, poverty, political corruption, injustice, labor
management, and conflict.
 Closely related to American scene painting and
regionalism styles.

23. Background
 Dates back to the Realist movement in French art
during the mid-1800s.
 Many early artists were painters with socialist
political views.
 Not an official art and allows room for subjectivity.
 Socialist realism is a specific branch of social realism.

24. Background
 Expresses emotion
 The movement occurs during the Great Depression.
 Focus of the artist is to show the working class as
heroes.
 Artists pledged to fight the beautiful art, which was
anything that appealed to the eye.

25. Influences
 Great Depression
 Mexican Revolution
 Industrial Revolution- urban cities grow and class
distinction.
 Developed as a reaction against idealism and the
exaggerated ego created by Romantism.

26. Influences
 Realism- style painting that depicts the actuality of
what they eyes can see.
 Imagery appears in magazine advertisements and
children books.
 Eventually falls out of favor as more edgy art styles
take over.

27. Continued Themes
 Allows political message
 Social Realism movies such as “Dead End”. (East
side of Manhattan living in mansions while the poor
people live in the streets below).
 Discards superstition and mysticism.

28. Purpose
 Aimed at social change.
 Ways to deal with social problems and all of the
suffering occurring during the time.
 Highlight social problems and attack social injustices
within the American society.

29. Purpose
 Display the plights of laborers and disenfranchised
individuals.
 Inspired Americans to reflect on their heritage of
revolution, hard work, and religion.
 Attempt to bring back prosperity.

30. Recognition
 Associated with the hard edged muscular forms
popularized by Mexican muralists, Diego Rivera and
Jose Clemente Orozco.
 Most common in big cities such as New York,
Detroit, and Chicago.
 Many artists adopted elements from the work of the
Mexican muralists.

31. Theme/Style
 Depicts social issues.
 Struggling social class
 Everyday life
 Poverty
 Emotions

32. Connected Movements
 Regionalism- A realist modern art movement where
artists shunned the city to focus on the scenes of
rural life.
 Cannot be confused with the Russian Socialists
Realism movement.
 Some artists fall under the category of both social
realism and regionalism.

33. Connected Movements
 The works the stress local and small town themes are
American Regionalism. Those depicting urban
scenes are social realism.

34. Public Reactions
 Outraged because they did not know how to look at it
or what to do with it.
 Created a new sense of social awareness.

35. Summary
 Focuses on the ugly realities of contemporary life
and sympathized with working class people and the
poor.
 Response to the desperate economic and social
conditions.
 An accurate depiction of reality.