Paintings of the 1930s

At the Art Institute of Chicago

Above: The Fleet's In (1934), by Paul Cadmus. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command. Home page/Art page: Wrigley's (1937), by Charles Green Shaw. Art Institute of Chicago.

BY: Howard Karren

In the 1930s, America was a different place. Having been through a horrific World War, the U.S. emerged a world power and then retreated into isolation from world affairs. The 1920s were a period of expansion, experimentation—the Jazz Age. Immigrants continued to arrive by the millions. Then in 1929 the stock market crashed and the economy spun out of control. The Great Depression began, and new approaches to government and the social order were considered. The flow of immigrants was cut off. For most, the American Dream was dead.

A recent exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, “America After the Fall: Painting of the 1930s,” took a look at how American art adapted and evolved during this era. Included in the show were numerous iconic works by the greats of the time: Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe and Paul Cadmus. Here are some highlights.

 

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New York Movie (1939), by Edward Hopper. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

 

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Mt. Katahdin (Maine), Autumn #2 (1939–40), by Marsden Hartley. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

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Aspiration (1936), by Aaron Douglas. Fine Arts Musuem of San Francisco.

 

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Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue (1931), by Georgia O’Keeffe. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. © Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY.

 

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Cradling Wheat (1938), by Thomas Hart Benton. Saint Louis Art Museum.

 

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American Gothic (1930), by Grant Wood. Art Institute of Chicago.

 

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Gas (1940), by Edward Hopper. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY.

 

 

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