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Introduction

Urban America, 1930-1970

December 1, 2006 - February 25, 2007

Between 1930 and 1970, the composition of America's urban population changed greatly, leading to the culturally, economically, and racially diverse cities that we know today. The prints, drawings, and photographs on view present responses by many artists to the dynamic climate of the urban centers within which they lived and worked.

The Great Depression of the 1930s brought soaring unemployment to America's cities. Paradoxically, far from being a sterile period for art, Depression-era artists -- bolstered by government programs such as the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) -- took responsibility for addressing the issues in a range of representational styles that were accessible to a broad public. This Social Realist movement would influence a variety of artistic approaches over the next 30 years. In the 1940s, new job opportunities arose because of the war effort. Women entered the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and the racial makeup of cities changed as scores of African Americans migrated northward from the Deep South. These factors and the influx of Europeans fleeing World War II infused the urban scene with a burgeoning population, multicultural vitality, and a fertile ground for the creation of music and visual arts. In the 1950s, however, anxieties over the Cold War left many Americans with a sense of unease, even with the economic prosperity that was felt in several sectors of society. Some artists became more introspective, while others focused on the alienation of life in the city. For artists in the 1960s who dealt with subjects such as Civil Rights or Women's Liberation, the approach became more confrontational.

Throughout the 40 years represented here, public spaces such as streets, entertainment venues, bars, and subways provided abundant material for artists as documentarians, as participants, and as voyeurs. There they recorded the mix of cultures, examined the notion of community, and confronted the social problems inherent in immense sociological change.

Selected Objects

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Jules Aarons

Street Game, North End, Boston, 1951
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Berenice Abbott

Lyric Theatre, 1936
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Gordon Parks

Selwyn, 42nd Street, New York, 1955
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Robert Frank

Mein Kampf, Times Square, 1961
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Bernard Brussel-Smith

Allen Street E1 #93, ca. 1940's
No Image Available

Fritz Eichenberg, designer

Subway, 1933-1934
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Jacob Lawrence

There is an Average of Four Bars to Every Block, 1943
No Image Available

Isabel Bishop, designer

In the Bus, 1947
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Aaron Siskind

Saloon, Small's Paradise, 1937
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Arthur Swoger

Norman Bluhm, Joan Mitchell, and Franz Kline, 1957
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Roy DeCarava

Couple Dancing, New York, 1956
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Max Yavno

Children Playing, San Francisco, California, 1947
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Louis Lozowick

Luna Park, ca. 1929
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James Van Der Zee

Atlantic City, 1930
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Paul Cadmus

Coney Island, 1935
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Morris Engel

Coney Island, 1939
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Arthur S. Siegel

Untitled (Two women under blue umbrella), ca. 1948 - 1954
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Carmel Vitullo

"Pizza Shop on Federal Hill", Providence, RI, 1959
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Reginald Marsh

Two Girls on Ferry, ca. 1950
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Carmel Vitullo

"Street Pose", Providence, RI, 1969
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Garry Winogrand

New York City, 1971
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Garry Winogrand

New York City (Woman in Phone Booth, Leg Up), 1972
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Harry Callahan

Chicago, 1961
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Wilmer Jennings

Harangue, 1941
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Vincent Dacosta Smith

First Day of School, 1965
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Ralston Crawford

Grand Marshal, 1956
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Ralston Crawford

Andrew Morgan's Brass Band in sunday school parade, 1958
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Ralston Crawford

Tuxedo Brass Band, New Orleans, LA, 1956
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Ralston Crawford

2nd Line, 1956
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Ralston Crawford

2nd Line, 1956
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Ralston Crawford

2nd Line, 1958

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Urban America, 1930-1970

December 1, 2006 - February 25, 2007
View Checklist PDF

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