Social Concern & Urban Realism
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American Painting of the 19030s
A Boston University Art Gallery publication, this catalogue accompanied the exhibition that circulated across the nation during 1983-84, sponsored by the Bread and Roses Project, the cultural project of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, and The American Federation of the Arts.
During the 1930s and lasting through the early 1940s, thousands of American artists produced a body of work based on observation of the urban life around them and informed by the artists’ own social concern and compassion for the men, women, and children who were then experiencing hard time. Many of these artists were supported in their efforts by the Roosevelt’s government agency the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. The exhibition and its fully illustrated catalogue sought to shine a new light on this body of work.
After a 17-page introduction by Hills and a brief essay by artist Raphael Soyer, the balance of the catalogue is devoted to essays and illustrations focused on the following artists: Thomas Hart Benton, George Biddle, Isabel Bishop, Daniel R. Celantino. Allan Rohan Crite, Lew E. Davis, Joseph Delaney, Arthur Durston, Philip Evergood, Lily Furedi, Henry Glintenkamp, Harry Gottlieb, John Grabach, Marion Greenwood, William Gropper, George Grosz, O. Louis Guglielmo, Philip Guston, Roberty Gwathmey, Joseph Hirsch, Joe Jones, Mervin Jules, Maurice Kish, Edward Laning, Jacob Lawrence, Jack Levine, Reginald Marsh, Fletcher Martin, Edward Millman, Alice Neel, Anton Refregier, Philip Reisman, Gordon Samstag, Katherine Schmidt, Ben Shahn, Milliard Sheets, Mitchell Siporin, Isaac Soyer, Moses Soyer, Rahael Soyer, and Joseph Vavak. Many of the artists were interviewed by Hills and her Boston University students and those conversations are incorporated into the texts.
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