JOE WANG, CIERRA SCOTT, MADELINE VALDES, MELISSA POTTER How did the Great Depression & the New Deal influence art & literature? Did literature during the 1930’s present a positive or negative view of American Society?
Mar 26, 2015
JOE WANG, CIERRA SCOTT, MADELINE VALDES, MELISSA
POTTER
How did the Great Depression & the New Deal influence art & literature? Did
literature during the 1930’s present a positive or negative view of American
Society?
Edward Hopper Federal Theatre Project
(FTP) 1935
NY artistGenre: Realism(1942) Nighthawks
WPA sponseredTheatre production
jobsGoal: To employ
unemplyed artists, writers, directors
Grant Wood Thomas Hart Benton
American Gothic (1930)
Facial ExpressionStress
MuralistRealismMidwest
content/rootsCountry’s New Duet
Group
1930s Literature: Steinbeck and Wright
Federal Works Project (FWP) Employed writers to create guides and write about
immigrants, ethnic groups, South slaveryHelped Richard Wright achieve in writing Native
Son (1940) About challenges of a man in world of racismFWP helped John Steinbeck Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath (1939)Focuses on Okies fleeing Dust Bowl Okies go to California and face hardships
1930s Literature: Positive View
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) –James Agee, Walker Evans Farmers’ dignity
Our Town (1938) –Thornton Wilder Beauty of New England
Gone with the Wind (1936) –Margaret Mitchell Virtues of American culture
1930s Literature: Negative View
Studs Lonigan Trilogy (1932-35) –James T. Farnell
Irish immigrant workers’ lives
U.S.A. (1930-36) –John dos Passos
Selfish rich class vs. nation’s promise
The Disinherited (1933) –John Conroy
Missouri coalfields violence Self-experience
KEY TERMS
WPA: Works Program Admin.- employed artists to do literacy projects to educate America
Federal Writer’s Project: funded writers (part of the New Deal.)
Federal Theater Project: funded artists
TIMELINE
1942- Nighthawks
1935- WPA
1940- Native Sun
1939- Grapes of Wrath
1936- Gone with the Wind (book)
1930- American Gothic
1930- 45
Photography
Question 1
What is the basis of Richard Wright’s book Native Son? A. An African American’s life in a racist world B. Lives of Okies (people who fled from the Dust
Bowl) in California C. The hardships of farmers D.A young boy’s adventures with a Native
American E. Wright’s tragic romantic past
Answer 1
A. An African American’s life in a racist world
Question 2
What genre of art surfaced in the 1930s? A. Realism B. Modernism C. Impressionism D. Romanticism E. Rococo
Answer 2
B. Modernism