Social realism focused on accurately depicting the lives of the working class and poor through paintings and photographs that conveyed social and political messages. Major artists like Dorothea Lange, Grant Wood, Ben Shahn, and Jacob Lawrence created works highlighting issues like poverty, labor struggles, and the African American experience to bring awareness to social problems and inspire change during difficult economic times like the Great Depression. The style aimed to realistically portray everyday people and scenes to sympathize with the working class.

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.