Social Realism

What Is Social Realism?• Art movement which kicked off in America in the 1930’s.

• Depicted the hardships of life.

▫ i.e. racial injustices, economic problems, working conditions.

▫ In paintings, satire was often used.

• Existed largely in America, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

• Originated as early as the 1850’s in Europe, and slowly made its way to America.

• While the movement declined over the years, the movement officially “died” when the Soviet Union fell in 1991.

Influences of Social Realism• Social Realism was most heavily influenced by

the Regionalism art movement.

• Gustave Courbet is also credited as being one of the biggest influences of Social Realism.

Major Artists of the American Movement

• Dorothea Lange

• Walker Evans

• Ben Shahn

• Thomas Hart Benton

Dorothea Lange

• Became a big artist during the Great Depression.

• Photographer

• Didn’t generally name her art pieces.

• Assigned to go around the country and take pictures of the hardships of life.

Migrant Mother

Yuba County, California

Arizona Highway 87

Walker Evans• Like Lange, he became very big

during the Great Depression.

• Also like Lange, he was a photographer.

• He had a lot of assignments during the Great Depression to take specific photos of areas or events.

Allie Mae BurroughsPortrait

Frame House

Ben Shahn• Didn’t have a single art style

he liked best. He did photography, drawing, and painting.

• Expressed his political views through his art.

• Very big on creating pieces that showed racial injustices.

Public Sale

Cotton Pickers,

Arkansas

Thomas Hart Benton

• American Painter.

• Encouraged by his father to go into law.

• He was the first artist ever to be on the cover of Time Magazine.

• Later in his life, he became a teacher at the Kansas City Art Institute.

Plowing it

Under

Hollywood

Fisherman

at Sunset

In Today’s Culture

• Even though Social Realism is considered a dead movement, films are still being released that can be considered Social Realism, although this is mostly in Britain.

• Some artists are saying that the movement is being reborn, in the form of Contemporary Social Realism.

• A lot of the original pieces from this movement are parodied in popular culture today.

American Gothic