Early Modernism: American Regionalism and the Influence of Art During the Great Depression

The Federal Arts Program

The 1930s were an essential and impactful time in America's art industry. Before the stock market crash, deemed Black Thursday on October 24, 1929, devastated the United States spiking the Great Depression, Americans were confident and thriving. The American standard of living changed drastically, and the unemployment rate rose immensely, causing homelessness and starvation.

This catastrophic tragedy occurred under the Presidency of Herbert Hover; he could not have the economy bounce back, but it grew worse. In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the presidential election in a landslide against Hover with campaign promises of restoring and fixing the economy. As soon as Roosevelt was sworn into office, he hit the ground running, working to restore economic growth with the creation of new jobs through a program called The New Deal. Deemed as the federal  Works Progress Administration (WPA), an umbrella agency program, helped get Americans back into the work field. 

Artists were among the rest of the American citizens suffering from the effects of the Great Depression. In 1935, President Roosevelt added the Federal Art Project (FAP) to the WPA program. Artists working in the program created a plethora of different works, easel paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and public display murals for post offices, schools, airports, housing developments, and various government buildings. Community art centers displayed FPA artists' work for the public while offering classes and hands-on learning opportunities for them led by the artists. President Roosevelt believed that arts in America were essential for cultural and historical purposes, showcasing Americans' resilience and pride. The addition of the Federal Arts Program was a way to get artists back to work while uplifting the spirits of members of the public through an art activity that is fundamental to life and democracy. Abstract   

Art Styles Used During The Great Depression

The style artists used when crafting their art was American Regionalism. American Regionalisms rejected ideas from European modernism and abstractions in their works at the turn of the Great Depression. Artists focused on subjects representing the American people with art that told stories everyone could relate to perfectly detailed. With no government-mandated restrictions on a subject's style, the artists working for the FPA could depict most of the artwork representing the hard way of life, struggles, and happiness of the past occurring because of the Great Depression. Thought American Regionalismists wanted their work to represent realistic events with precise details and no abstractions, many of the works crafted during this movomebt show mild signs of abstraction use. Flat areas of space tend to contain geometic shapes and angular forms. 

Mail service in the Arctic, Rockwell Kent, 1937
Pencil and oil on plywood

Rockwell Kent of New York was not only an artist who painted, printed, illustrated, and wrote but an avid adventure voyager sailor who traveled the world. Kent's first trip to Alaska occurred in 1918; he crafted several Alaskan scenes using oil on wood panels sketches for an exhibition in New York in 1920. In 1937 Kent was approached by the WPAs Section of Painting and Sculpture of the U.S. Treasury to paint murals inside the New Post Office building at the Federal Triangle in Washington, DC. He painted two, Mail Service in the Arctic and Mail Service in the Tropics, honoring the domestic air-borne postal service in the rural areas of Alaska and Puerto Rico. The paintings received backlash due to a message he added in small print, from the Alaskan Natives in the cultural language to the Puerto Ricans supporting decolonization. "To the peoples of Puerto Rico, our friends: Go ahead, let us change chiefs. That alone can make us equal and free."(Artvee). 

Mail service in the Tropics, Rockwell Kent, 1937

Pencil and oil on plywood

Both Rockwell Kent's murals depict the American Reogionlisum styles. Regionalists wanted their artwork to be precisely detailed in a manner that could be realtable to Americans by telling a story. The murals are painted with an invented and smooth matte texture. The smooth textures in Mail Service in the Arctic add dimension and give the impression of movement. The shadows cast upon the snow show the reader that the characters and animals in the painting have not stopped moving; the flat matte finish helps the light hit the artwork in all the right spots. 

Appearing close to the viewer's eye, the females have the same lines drawn on the legs and arms in Mail Service in the Tropics, which makes them appear to be reaching back into the painting towards the airplane and mail carrier. The repetitions of similar lines and shapes give the murals a 2D effect. The mural's action is happening in the front; the characters are the main focus, and the airplanes' perspective is further behind them because they are almost as tall. 

Because the characters are close to the foreground, I can sense the urgency and excitement they have to receive letters from the postal service. I can almost feel the Arctic breeze from the dog sled as it leaves the picture's frame. 

The various uses of vertical, diagonal, and curved lines in the character's limbs bring urgency and action to the artwork. They all want their mail, grabbing for it frantically. The airplanes are drawn with horizontal lines to maintain the activities and excitement in the foreground. 

   Work Pays America! Prosperity!, Vera Bock 

•          Published in: [New York] : Federal Art Project, [between 1936 and 1941]
•  1 print on board (poster) : silkscreen, color ; sheet 710 x 559 mm (poster format)
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• The Works Progress Administration hired artists to create posters as advertisements and public service messages in 1936. Beginning in New York, the posters were a way to promote Federal programs, prompt positive social incentives, and shine a light on the American way of life. The steps taken were an effort to restore livelihood in Americans after the Great Depression. WAP poster artists were not permitted to sign their works, so of the hundreds of employed illustrators, only a few are known by name. Vera Bock and Boris Artzybasheff, both Russian immigrants, worked for the WPA Federal Art Project as illustrators in New York. Their posters Art Week/Buy American and Work Pays America! Prosperity!  are great examples of the American Regionalism movement. Both signs promote patriotism in America; as a country, we can rise up and rebuild after our great nation's fall. They encourage American citizens to build up again through the economy and the positivity of fine arts.  
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• Art Week/Buy American Art, Boris Artzybasheff, c.1939
• Published in: [New York]:Federal Art Project
• Silkscreen printing
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• The original posters were made from hand-drawn stencils and then printed with color on the poster board using a silk press method. Both posters have beautiful vibrant colors that catch the eyes of viewers. Art Week/Buy American Art screams American pride with its bold red, white, and blue colors on a soft dark brown backdrop encased by a rich-looking gold frame. Work Pays America! Prosperity! is designed with cooler tones of soft creams, olive green, and denim blue with flat grey accents. The color scheme has a midwest farming vibe; the tones are not bold but earthy. 
• The combination of horizontal and vertical lines gives the illustrations a soft 2D perspective, there is no movement, but the illusion of space lingers in the backdrop. The curved swirls from the hand and in the flower petals bring liveliness to the illustrations, enhancing the desire and excitement to view and buy an artwork. Both works have positive and negative space; it is done harmoniously, bringing balance and rhythm to the posters. 
• In Art Week/Buy American Art, the simple backdrop tones down the busy objects at the forefront so they catch the viewer's eye. Work Pays America! Prosperity! has two men standing atop a simple grey thing shaped like America; the pops of light cream in the background bring all the attention to the rest of the illustration with duller earth-tone colors.    
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• Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Harp), Augusta Savage, c.1937-1939
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• Augusta Savage was a sculptor and art teacher who lived in New York. She was a crucial figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement, which fought for African Americans' equal rights in the arts during the 1920s and 1930s. When the Great Depression hit, Savage was teaching art at her studio/school Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts, which eventually became the Harlem Community Art Center. She gained funding through her persistence and drive for equality through the WAP Federal Art Project for the Harlem Community Arts Center. In 1939 Savage was the only female of color to be invited to participate in the New York World's Fair. She constructed a 16-foot tall plaster mold sculpture with a dark surface treatment finished like basalt named Lift Every Voice and Sing. The name pays tribute to an inspirational national Black anthem of the same title by dear friend James Weldon Johnson. The sculpture was exhibited in the court of the Contemporary Arts building and is one of the most photographed art pieces. Sadly after the event ended, the magnificent work of art crafted by Savage and many other works brought to the fair were destroyed. The sculptor represents American Regionalism, especially for liberation, musical culture, love of God, and strength within the Black community.     
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• Lift Every Voice and Sing was renamed The Harp by the New York Worlds Fair committee because of the racial undertones associated with the original name/song tribute. The sculpture has twelve boys held together by God's hand, progressively shrinking as they near the top. The array of boys standing single file, each one becoming smaller as they go upward, builds the physical consolidation of the sculptor.
•  The boys represent the stings, with mouths open as they sing in unison, expressing togetherness and their love of God. In the front crouches, a young boy holding musical cards in prayer. The enormous stature of 16 feet high is not made of fancy materials but looks to be made of the most upscale quality. 
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• Conclusion 
• Creating art is not often recognized as a paid profession, but the talents of many artists who needed work were put to use and produced some of the most influential pieces of our time. I enjoyed exploring the influence the Great Depression had on art and the American Regionalism movement. The light at the end of the tunnel could be you; a century of disaster, fear, and anxiety for the United States was mended back together through rebuilding the economy by putting Americans back to work. With the division among many Americans still in the present, it was nice to see the nation coming together to have a fresh start and build the country back together. 
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• I wanted to find art pieces from different parts of the Federal Arts Projects; I enjoyed exploring the post office murals the most. Rockwell Kent's murals he crafted were beautiful but not my favorite I found. The story drew me to them; I want to know why Kent wanted to stir controversy by adding a not-nice message to his murals; who doesn't enjoy juicy gossip from time to time? 
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• I would love to explore a museum of Great Depression art; so many different subject interpretations and other movements were so wild they were brilliant! Dada is a style I want to futher learn about; mocking politics through silly nonrealistic art sounds interesting to me. 
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• Works Referenced  

Congress, Library. “About This Collection : Posters: WPA Posters : Digital Collections : Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/collections/works-progress-administration-posters/about-this-collection/. 

Goldberg, Lauren. “WPA Posters: Favorites from a Vintage Posters Specialist.” Swann Galleries News, 28 Jan. 2022, https://www.swanngalleries.com/news/the-artists-of-the-wpa/2020/04/wpa-poster-art-graphic-design-national-park-vintage-posters/. 

Gov, Npg. “Great Depression .” Great Depression, 2022, https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/great-depression.html.

GOV, GSA. “Rockwell Kent.” GSA, 19 Apr. 2022, https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/gsa-properties/visiting-public-buildings/william-jefferson-clinton-federal-building/whats-inside/wheres-the-art/rockwell-kent. 

Murphy, Kathleen. “WPA Poster History.” Posters For The People, 2022, http://www.postersforthepeople.com/wpa-poster-history.html.

Story, Art. “Federal Art Project of Works Progress Admin.” The Art Story, 2022, https://www.theartstory.org/definition/federal-art-project-of-the-works-progress-administration/. 

Tsaleza, Anastasia. “Augusta Savage: The Woman Who Defined 20th Century Sculpture.” DailyArt Magazine, 9 Mar. 2022, https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/augusta-savage/.