Early Modern Art and the Great Depression

The Great Depression

The Great Depression is said to have started when the stock market crashed in October 1929, but there were many factors leading up to one of the darkest decades in American history. Advancements in technology led to an uptick in industrial-made products which were advertised and promoted sparking a new sense of consumerism. To take part, many Americans were using installment buying, also known as credit, to fund their new lifestyles. Installment buying was also used to buy shares in the stock market, enabling anyone to purchase stock on loan and make money fast. On the other side of things, the agricultural sector of the United States was suffering as well. Due to the increase in demand for food during World War I, farmers expanded their farms and needed machinery to manage them. Most had to use credit to purchase these machines but ultimately lost their farms due to little to no profits. The Dust Bowl greatly contributed to the Great Depression as well, ravishing what was left of the country’s agriculture. The Panic of 1930 bank ultimately set off the Great Depression. When large numbers of people rushed to banks to withdraw their money, many banks did not have enough cash in reserves to give money back. They would call in loans (meaning the borrower had to pay back in full) and sell assets. This led to a freeze in credits, limiting money in circulation, and resulting in mass deflation. Businesses experienced lower costs for their products which equals less profit. Employers would cut employees. No work meant no money, and no money meant no purchasing. It became a vicious cycle of lowering values and high unemployment. (Green and Muller)

The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration's New Deal was momentous in helping out the struggling country. From 1933-1938, the New Deal established relief programs and promoted work for all Americans through agencies such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. These agencies provided work for around 8.5 million people. The Federal Art Project, Federal Writers’ Project, and Federal Theatre Project were created to promote the arts and offer a way for Americans to connect and reestablish confidence in the United States. New Deal policies would also establish some much-needed labor laws and protections that would prevent an event as serious as the Great Depression from happening again. The onset of World War II would pull the country out of the Great Depression and mark the end of the 1930s economic crisis. (“New Deal”)

Dust Bowl by Alexandre Hogue (1933)

Background and Influences 

Alexandre Hoque (1898-1994) is best known for painting Dust Bowl scenes during the 1930s and was part of the American Regionalism movement. He was raised in Texas and taught art at Texas State College for Women and Hockaday Junior College. He called himself an “abstract realist” and focused on landscapes of his home state and the Great Plains. During the 1930s, his paintings focused on the mistreatment of the land that would cause the Dust Bowl. His firsthand experience and environmental stance on the matter would directly influence his depictions of the devastating time. (“Alexandre Hoque”)

The Dust Bowl was a series of droughts and dust storms that inflicted the southwestern Great Plains from 1930 to 1939. It caused food scarcity, unemployment, and poverty for hundreds of thousands of Americans. The region was originally grasslands until the settlement of homesteaders during the 1860s. With the increase in demand for wheat, farmers opted to start growing the crop, plowing hundreds of acres of land. Between overgrazing and farming, the grasslands became bare, exposing dry soil. Then in 1930, a drought began drying out the already dried land. Without plants to hold the topsoil, severe winds began to blow the dust: darkening skies, choking life, and destroying farms. Nearly 400,000 people left their homes and land to escape the dust and headed out West to make a living. (“The Dust Bowl”)

Description and Art Elements

Dust Bowl, 1933, Oil on canvas, 61 x 82.8 cm

Painted in Texas, USA

Currently located at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., USA

Dust Bowl depicts an abandoned ranch and land amid a dust storm. The sky is painted in dark reds and oranges. In the middle, the sun shines before being obscured by dust. On the horizon, there is a silhouette of an abandoned ranch. Angular, broken fences sit in the foreground, representing the disrepair of thousands of farms during the Dust Bowl. They are surrounded by sandy dust, decorated with tire tracks and footprints showing departure from the land. In the bottom left corner are dead plants, dried out from the ongoing drought. 

Hogue uses bold, angular, and jagged lines and sfumato to contrast the elements of the painting with each other. The clear, jagged lines in the bottom half of the painting express the physical and emotional landscape of Americans in the 1930s. The turmoil and hardships were experienced by all. The sky is painted with soft gradients, portraying the looming devastation and uncertainty of the dust storm. Hogue uses golden yellows and brown to paint the land, once rich with golden wheat and fertile soil. The orange and reds represent the distress dust storms bring, taking over hopeful blue skies. 

Placement and Presentation

Currently, the Smithsonian has the Dust Bowl presented next to other works showcasing Western American landscapes. I could not find a current image of the painting, its frame, and the setting it is in. However, I would put it in a simple dark brown frame on a dark-toned wall 

Personal Relation

The series of Dust Bowl paintings by Alexandre Hogue are moving. Between Dust Bowl and another Hogue painting, Erosion No. 2 - Mother Earth Laid Bare (1936), I struggled to pick which to feature. His work represents an era of desperation and sacrifice by both nature and humans. I have always been fascinated with the Dust Bowl and its impact across America. The events of the Dust Bowl would create a conservation movement in the Great Plains to prevent it from occurring again. Looking back now, learning about this time inspired me to pursue working in conservation either through a career or volunteering. Without learning from our past, we can never improve. I would own a copy of this painting.

Tenement Flats by Millard Sheets (1933-1934)

Background and Influences 

Millard Sheets (1907-1989) was a Californian artist who had a diverse variety of works from paintings to mosaics. He was part of the Southern California Regionalism movement, a form of American Regionalism. He created art exhibiting Californian geography, history, and culture. He was directly impacted by the New Deal, creating art because of FAP and hiring artists for the Public Works of Art Project. (“Millard Sheets”)

Millard Sheets grew up in Los Angeles County with his grandparents, experiencing the urbanization of the cities around him. In Tenement Flats, Sheets paints a scene of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. During the 19th century, Bunker Hill was adorned with rich, Victorian houses that offered an escape from the bustle of the city below. During the 1920s, homeowners moved to quieter areas, and the homes were subdivided and rented out. Bunker Hill transformed into a populated neighborhood for low-income families (“Bunker Hill, Los Angeles”). The state of California saw an increase in population due to people moving out west to escape poverty and hopes of finding work during the Great Depression. However, California was not spared the suffering so many experienced during the 1930s. The New Deal’s PWAP employed Sheets, as it did many American artists. During an exhibition displaying works created by artists in the program, the Roosevelts purchased Tenement Flats (Mecklenburg and Zucker).

Description and Art Elements

Tenement Flats, 1933-1934, Oil on canvas, 102.1 x 127.6 cm

Painted in Los Angeles, California, USA

Currently located at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., USA

Tenement Flats takes place on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. In the painting, you can see lines of washing hung out to dry from the crowded homes of poor families that once housed rich Victorians. Women and children are seen taking a break from chores to socialize and cool down from the heat of the sun. The painting is brightly lit and colored. 

Sheets used bright colors and tones to provide a unique outlook during the 1930s. Instead of opting to show the struggles of the Great Depression through dark scenes, he shows a hopeful and strong community. It is almost inviting. He uses vertical lines in the buildings and patterns on clothing to represent the strength and resilience that is seen in so many Americans during the time. 

Placement and Presentation

The Smithsonian presents this painting surrounded by a thin, gold and black frame on a forest green wall. The frame matches the thin railing seen in the painting. The green wall brings out the green of the house in the foreground and the foliage seen in the upper right corner. It is accompanied by other paintings depicting life in America. I would not have any changes to the placement and presentation of Tenement Flats.

Personal Relation

I enjoy this painting and its message of perseverance and hope during such a dark time. It shows a sense of community that is vital to the survival of people. I don’t relate strongly to the experiences of the people of this decade, but admire them for their resiliency. I think I would own a copy of this painting.

Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife by Walker Evans (1936)

Background and Influences 

Walker Evans (1903-1975) was an American photographer who worked for the Resettlement Administration, later known as the Farm Security Administration, during the Great Depression. This administration was created upon the adoption of the New Deal. It moved impoverished families to newer areas and funded the Photography Project, which focused on documenting rural poverty during the 1930s. Walker Evans and James Agee, a journalist, went to Hale County, Alabama to spend a summer with three sharecropper families and document their lives for their book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). (“Walker Evans”)

Sharecropping was a way for many Americans to survive. Landowners would provide the tools, land, and other necessities a tenant farmer may need in exchange for labor and share of crops. The Burroughs family was a sharecropping family. Everything they had was rented through their landlord. When harvest came around, the Burroughs gave their landlord half of the crop and paid off any debts from the year. In 1935, they were $12 (nearly $300 today) in debt after all was said and done. This was common for many across America. 

Description and Art Elements

Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife, 1936, Gelatin silver print, 22.1 x 17.8 cm

Photograph taken in Hale County, Alabama, United States

Currently located at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, USA

Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife was one of four nearly identical photographs that Evans took of Allie Mae Burroughs, the wife of a sharecropper in Alabama. In this series of photographs, her expressions vary from subtle amusement to grim anger. The background is a wall from the family’s cabin. The element that stood out most to me was the horizontal lines. The background is filled with horizontal lines in the wood panels and their grain. Allie Mae's face shares those lines across her eyes. They represent the calm manner of Allie Mae and there is a sense of strength. The texture in this photograph is very apparent in the wood, her hair, dress, and most of all her face. Allie Mae had not even reached 30 when Evans took her portrait, yet the lines of worry and hard work aged her. It shows that her life was not easy, but she made do. 

Here are some incredibly moving audio pieces that accompanied a recent exhibition of Walker Evans’s work, including this photograph. I strongly encourage you to give them a listen.

Placement and Presentation

I could not find a super recent presentation of the image and it is currently not on view. However, I do like how the MoMA did their Walker Evans exhibition in 2013-2014. It was fitted with a simple white frame with a white paper mat behind it. Then, on a white wall, it was positioned next to other portraits and depictions of life in the South during the Great Depression that were taken by Evans.

Personal Relation

When I was writing this post, I knew I wanted to include a photograph from this era. They capture the realities of the Great Depression. I selected this image from the series due to the determination and hint of friendliness from Allie Mae Burroughs. She worked hard alongside her husband to ensure the well-being of her family. She was one of millions of women who deserved more than what the era had to offer. As much as I appreciate this painting, I do not think it would fit the mood of my collection. 

Works Cited

“Alexandre Hogue.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Dec. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Hogue. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

“Bunker Hill, Los Angeles.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Jan. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_Hill,_Los_Angeles. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

“The Dust Bowl.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/dust-bowl/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

Green, John, and Stan Muller. “The Great Depression: Crash Course US History #33.” YouTube, CrashCourse, 11 Oct. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQfMWAikyU. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

Mecklenburg, Dr. Virginia, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “American Resilience and the Great Depression.” YouTube, Smarthistory, 27 Sept. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLUs5C_SSOo. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

“Millard Sheets.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Sheets. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

“New Deal.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 29 Mar. 2025, www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

“Walker Evans.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2025,                 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Evans. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.