Early Modern: The Influence of the great depression on art
I choose to talk about how the great depression had a effect on the visual arts such as paintings during the early modern era. I choose to do this topic because my father lived through the great depression and always talked about although he was little he remembers things being horrible, and hard for everyone. I think that something as big as the great depression in history would effect everything that was going on at the time and it is interesting to see how it was shown in art, and how looking back at these painting maybe we can understand more how people felt and what it was like to live through such a period.
The great depression was the “longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized modern world” (artsconnected). With something this big, of course it would have a impact on everything around. “50% of children did not have adequate food, shelter, or medical care” (artsconnected).
Also during this time, there was a lot of experimentation about art such as the artists searching for ways to reach the public more and on a new level that had not been reached before.
To start out, I will start with a picture and not a painting. I feel that by these picture it shows how horrible things really were.
This picture was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936. It has become very famous, and is called “Migrant Mother“. This picture makes me feel sad not only for the mother but for the children as well. I choose to include this because it shows exactly what was going on during the time, It was a still new form of visual arts with photography. At this time, photography was becoming wide known and showing people how life looked. I think this is beautiful for the fact that I can not imagine what life would be like without a camera. I love taking pictures, and knowing that this was the start of something magical even though it was bad time in our American history.
To me, this picture shows the sadness and worry that this mother feels about worrying how to take care of her children, looking back at the statistic that 50% of children did not have adequate things to live, I can only imagine how this mother would feel during this time when she felt as though she was unable to protect the children that she loves. That is what I personally, see from this picture and it takes my breathe away by showing how hard times were during this period.
This is the next piece of art that I choose. To me this picture is almost as sad as the photography that we looked at above. This is titled “Refugees” and was painted by Leon Bibel in 1938. To me, this shows that the people are trying to move and find somewhere else to settle down where they can better provide for their children. The mother looks scared as does the older child. I also noticed the man and what appears to be him looking at a book trying to read the sign. This I noticed first off and thought that maybe he spoke a different language and was trying to use a book to help him read the sign and find out where his family was headed. The painting is almost dark to show the hard times that this family had seen and how they are trying their best to escape it and make a better life for their family. This is how I feel that a lot of families felt about their lives during the great depression. I think they all felt as though they needed to try to find something better during this hard time.
This is the next painting that I choose to look at. It was painted by Thomas Hart Benton in 1934. This is titled “The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley“.
I have some mixed feelings about this painting. I feel that is showing the time period of the great depression to be something different than it is viewed as others. I feel that this shows how things went wrong behind the scenes that not everyone knew about., I think this shows that the men in the front have faces that are hollowed and sad and also kind of scary. I think it shows that they are not well taken care of and are not working and spending their time playing cards and drinking (notice the brown jug that the man farthest right has). Now to the man and the woman in the back, they also look hollowed and hungry and very unhealthy. They are both skinny and have the scary faces as noted before. I think that this is showing that the man no longer cares about anything and is using the knife to make sure he can do what he wants with the woman without having to worry about anything in the world. I think this is sad and it is showing the nightmare that broke out when everyone felt that they had nothing else to loose. 
I think that all three of these pieces of visual art are completely different and show a different way of looking at the great depression. I think that all of them can help us learn more about the time and what it was life to live during that time and survive the living nightmare that many had to go through. As with any big historical period, it will shape everything around including how people view the world and how they interpret it to others. This was one of those times that changed everything in the world, and the arts are one way to look back and see how these things effected the relationship between people.
As a last piece to look at, this is “The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa” by Grant Wood in 1931. I think that this is completely different than the three above. This is a sign of hope. This is showing that no matter how bad things are at the time, there is hope and it will not be that way forever. That is how I see it. It is showing that there is something to hold on for and to wait because there will be a end in sight if you can hold on long enough. I think that this was something that was very important because it would help people now that this was not going to last forever and although it would change the world, the world is not a horrible place and it will be daylight again soon. 
Works Cited:
http://www.artsconnected.org/collection/146204/the-great-depression?print=true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Wood
Rebekah Mitchell 
Photographers from the Great Depression Margaret Bourke-White, and Dorothea Lange really had an eye for photography. The photograph, Migrant Mother, taken by Dorothea Lange, is really as sad as you said. Prior to reading your blog I did not know about the artist Leon Bibel. Your blog was very informative however you didn’t talk much about the New Deal.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/1934-the-art-of-the-new-deal-132242698/