Louis Armstrong

     By far one of the most famous jazz musicians to date, Louis Armstrong was born into poverty, in the turn of the twentieth century, 1901 to be exact, as he arose to become one of the most talented trumpet players that molded the development of music.  Armstrong's inventiveness, along with his energetic, dazzling style, has influenced generations of musicians. One of the first to perform scat-style singing, Armstrong is well known also for his distinctive gravelly singing voice. Going into the Great Depression was a struggle for many entertainers as it was hard to find work. However, with the contribution of the Depression, Armstrong was emotionally moved to write "Stardust" in 1931 and "All of Me" in 1932, both which received many awards and later entered the Grammy Hall of Fame. Even in the hardest of times, musicians like Armstrong emerged and developed the U.S. to have a  more cultured society, further changing the face of America for good.
"Stardust" (1931)
"All of Me" (1932)

    

Arthur Rothstein

                               

Arthur Rothstein was born in 1915 and from Manhattan and was a noted photographer during the Great Depression era in the US. He is recognized for his contribution to the Farm Security Administration and the issue of raising awareness about the poverty being caused by the dust bowl. At age 21, he was the first photographer to be hired by Roy Striker, the head of the Resettlement Agency, to photograph the Dust Bowl in 1936. His pictures were later added to the Farm Security Administration’s collection, which included his most famous works. He later went on to photograph some of the events of World War II before his death in 1985.

Arthur Rothstein’s most recognized photo is called “Fleeing a Dust Storm,” (Top) and truly captures the essence of his work. It was taken in Cimarron County, Oklahoma and shows a man dragging his two kids through a dust storm. The background contains a destroyed and buried wood house and barren fields. The photo is a visual representation of the intense poverty felt by farmers of the time. Similarly, the other photo has a little boy wearing tattered clothing cover his mouth and closing his eyes because of all of the dust being blown around. He is standing on what probably used to be a farm but know is destroyed by the dust. Both of these photos were used to raise awareness about the Dust Bowl to congress and the general public through the efforts of the Farm Security Administration.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

One of the most influential authors of both the Great Depression and the 20th century, John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. After finishing his literary education at Stanford university, Steinbeck was forced to live on a boat during the Great Depression, and fell in and out of poverty. His "dust bowl fiction" novels most accurately express the dire situation which farmers' experienced during the Great Depression.



Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men follows the story of two tenant workers, George and Lennie, who have fled to California in seek of work because of the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck shows the other side of the Dust Bowl, the hidden part unknown to most Americans, especially in the northeast. Steinbeck very effectively convey's the emotional toll that tenant workers experienced during the depression. This aids in understanding the Great Depression as a whole, both on a political and a personal level.

Similarly, The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the Joads, a family of sharecroppers forced to move west because of the Dust Bowl. This novel focuses on economic hardship and changes in the Agricultural Industry during the Depression, and lends itself to a very pro-worker and anti-capitalist message.

Both of these novels help readers grasp a more complete sense of the Depression, one that goes beyond the statistical data presented in most history textbooks.

Works Cited

"John Steinbeck - Biographical." John Steinbeck - Biographical. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html>.

"John Steinbeck - Google Search." John Steinbeck - Google Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. <https://www.google.com/search?q=john+steinbeck&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=j_ZfVK_YD8z3yQS0loIY&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=3XBgkiGJ9X1oFM%253A%3BE-MSPnh1Tfg1UM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fa3.files.biography.com%252Fimage%252Fupload%252Fc_fill%252Cdpr_1.0%252Cg_face%252Ch_300%252Cq_80%252Cw_300%252FMTE5NDg0MDU1MTM4MzA1NTUx.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.biography.com%252Fpeople%252Fjohn-steinbeck-9493358%3B300%3B300>.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking, 1939. Print.

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.

Marion Post Wolcott

Marion Post Wolcott was a noted American photographer who worked for the Farm Security Adminstration during the Great Depression. Her documentations included poverty and deprivation. Born in New Jersey in 1910, she spent most of her time home and at boarding school. During this period, she met many musicians and artists and became interested in dance.

Training as a teacher, she saw the hardships of the Depression and the problems of the poor. On a trip to Europe over a school break, she was introduced to photography and was told to stick with it. As she was continuously approached with stories, she found herself with an offer from the Farm Security Administration and decided to take the job. 

Post's photography for the FSA explored political aspects of poverty and life during the depression. This photograph shows the life of African American children in North Carolina in 1938. The lone standing house and the setting of the photography suggests that life during the Depression was overwhelmingly hard especially for minorities.  Towards the end of the depression, Wolcott met Lee Wolcott and once she finished her FSA assignments, they got married, raised a family and traveled the world. 

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange lived from 1895-1965. She has been hailed as "America's greatest documentary photographer." She is most famous for her portrait photographs of migrant workers during the Great Depression. Lange began photographing the labor strikes and breadlines which were visible in her own city of San Francisco. She then got married in the early 1930's and she and her husband traveled for 5 years interviewing and photographing victims for the Farm Security Administration. 

"White Angel Breadline"

This photograph is taken as one of her first attempts of capturing people in her hometown before she worked for the government. At the White Angel Jungle, a soup kitchen in San Francisco, a starving man among others awaits his free meal. Many of these people rely on donations from others because of their limited resources.

"Migrant Mother"

Above is an image, "Migrant Mother," which is Lange's most notorious photograph. This photograph captures the pain and hardship of a migrant mother with her many children. It serves as a representation of what many Americans faced during the Great Depression. 

                                                                   Works Cited

• "The History Place - Dorothea Lange Photo Gallery: Migrant Farm Families." The History Place - Dorothea Lange Photo Gallery: Migrant Farm Families. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
• "SFMOMA | SFMOMA | Explore Modern Art | Our Collection | Dorothea Lange | White Angel Breadline, San Francisco." San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.
• Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014

Jackson Pollock

One of the better know and very influential painters during the Great Depression was Jackson Pollock. Before he could make money off of his paintings, Pollock was funded by the Federal Art Project. Pollock is most know for being a forefather in american abstract painting (http://www.jackson-pollock.org/).



http://totallyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/going-west-jackson-pollock-1935.jpg

Here is a painting Pollock made about people going west. The west was seen as a possible place for promise during this time

http://totallyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/blue-moby-dick-jackson-pollock.jpg

And here is my favorite painting by Pollock

Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958)

 Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958) was a popular blues musician during the 1930's and a major contributor to the Chicago blues scene before World War II.  He grew up in the South and moved North as he became a professional musician. His music during the 1930's was mainly in the style of "city blues," an often more methodical style of blues created as southern blues musicians moved North during the Great Migration.

 

Big Bill Broonzy playing his guitar

Broonzy's song "Black, Brown, and White" addresses the inequality and racism experienced by African Americans in the 20's and 30's. The lyrics mention unequal employment opportunities for black and white Americans, unequal salary, Jim Crow laws, and question why a black man who has fought for his country should have to endure racism back at home. Although the song became a staple of his live concerts, record companies refused to record the song until years later.

"When Will I Get to Be Called a Man," like "Black, Brown, and White," describes the inequality of race relations. The lyrics focus on the subordinate identity of African Americans, especially the unequal treatment of those who fought in WWI. 

Carl Gustaf Nelson (1898-1988)

Carl Gustaf Nelson (1898-1988) was born in Sweden, and he died in the United States. He was hired by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression and the era's events strongly impacted his artwork. 


Nelson painted his most famous piece, "Central Park," in 1934. The bright colors of the clothing suggest that people were happy and that the United States was recovering from the Great Depression. However, the leafless trees subtly point out that there were still issues like poverty and discrimination in society. Here it is:

In his watercolor painting, Nelson similarly describes society. The boat serenely floats on calm, blue waters. However, in the background, there are dark, simple buildings, and gray clouds seem to be approaching. Nelson fears that relief from the Great Depression is temporary and that another disaster will strike. He and the rest of society have lost hope of finding security and peace. 

Works Cited

"George Glazer Gallery - Antique Maritime Prints - Carl G. Nelson Sailboats [Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island], Pair of Watercolors." George Glazer Gallery - Antique Maritime Prints - Carl G. Nelson Sailboats [Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island], Pair of Watercolors. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014. <http://www.georgeglazer.com/prints/sporting/maritime/nelson.html>.

"Search Collections." Carl Gustaf Nelson / American Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014. <http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=3511>.

"Search Collections." Central Park by Carl Gustaf Nelson / American Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014. <http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=18227>.

John Cheever - A Novelist of the 1930's

      John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982), known as John Cheever, was an American novelist and short story writer. He is called "the Chekhov of the suburbs." Cheever, who got job in the Federal Writer's Project during the Great Depression, now is recognized as "one of the most important short fiction writers of the 20th century." 

      Cheever's short story The Five-Forty-Eight was originally published in The New Yorker and collected in The Stories of John Cheever. The story is famous because its focus is primarily on Blake, who is a businessman and the main character of the story. Though the woman’s mental state is somewhat deteriorated, Cheever communicates that her perception of reality is more advanced than Blake’s, which indicates that women are not inferior than men, but ironically, gender inequality still did not get solved perfectly in the Great Depression. 

Here is a link to the short story: The Five-Forty Eight

     What else, The Wapshot Chronicle(published in 1957) is the first novel by John Cheever. The novel won "National Book Award." In 1998, the Modern Library ranked The Wapshot Chronicle 63rd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Through the novel, the main theme is the "duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters who embody the salient aspects of both – light and dark, flesh and spirit."

Thomas Hart Benton - The Muralist of the 1930's

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) is widely renowned as one of the most influential and well known muralist painters who contributed to the American Scene Painting Movement that took place during the 1930's/Depression Era. He is associated closely with Regionalism, a type of art that focuses on "reject[ing] modernism in favor of a naturalistic and representational style" (University of Virginia).

Benton's America Today mural (painted from 1930-31) that is now housed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicts scenes from American life starting in the glamourous Roaring Twenties through to the harsh realities of the working class in the 1930's. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/arts/thomas-hart-bentons-america-today-mural-at-the-met.html?_r=0

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2012.478b

Benton's The Indiana Murals were commissioned in 1932 to be displayed at the 1933 World's Fair. The purpose of the mural was to portray the history of Indiana (though the painting could probably be applied to most states), as well as to understand the working class that populated much of America and to illustrate their hardships through the decades up until the 30's.
http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/benton/

Regionalists like Benton became famous in the 30's due to the funding they received from federal art projects which were included in FDR's New Deals.

Works Cited

Rosenberg, Karen. "Brother, Can You Spare a Wall?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Oct. 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/arts/thomas-hart-bentons-america-today-mural-at-the-met.html?_r=0>.

"Thomas Hart Benton - Biography." Thomas Hart Benton - Biography. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~am482_04/am_scene/bentonbio.html>.

"Thomas Hart Benton: America Today: City Activities with Dance Hall (2012.478b". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000--. http://metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2012.478b (September 2014)

"The Indiana Murals of Thomas Hart Benton." The Indiana Murals of Thomas Hart Benton. Indiana University Art Museum,2003. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/benton/>.

Here's the assignment!

For a half-quiz grade (due 11/7), put together a blog post about an artist of the Great Depression.  The artist can be a painter, photographer, writer, musician, or whatever.  The artist could have been one funded by New Deal programs, but it doesn't have to be.

Include the following in your post:

• Brief biographical sketch of the artist.  (include a parenthetical citation for your source).
• Brief treatment of how TWO works by this artist communicate important information about the Great Depression.

The post doesn't need to be long.  You do need to include the two pieces of art in the blog (so that the rest of us can see them).

For what it's worth, here's my offering.  One of the greatest contralto singers of all time was an African-American woman named Marian Anderson.  When she toured in Europe, she was a rock star (literally).  When she came back to the US in 1939, she could find no venue in the Washington, DC that would allow her to perform.

So she gave an outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial, foreshadowing an event 24 years later.

And here is Marian Anderson singing what I would argue is one of the most beautiful renditions of Schubert's Ave Maria.

Remember, SPC athletes are exempt from this requirement, though I hope that many of you will take a moment to see what your classmates have contributed.