20th century american art
A01=Helen Langa
aaron douglas
american artists
antifascist
antiracism
art for the millions
artistic expression
Author_Helen Langa
boris gorelick
Category=AB
early 20th century american history
egalitarian
elizabeth olds
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
federal art project
great depression
hale woodruff
harry gottlieb
harry sternberg
innovative
joseph vogel
labor justice
left wing politics
mabel dwight
political activism
printmakers
printmaking
race in america
racism
radical politics
social justice
sociology
technical process
the new deal
Product details
- ISBN 9780520231559
- Weight: 1134g
- Dimensions: 178 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 25 Mar 2004
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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During the 1930s, the era of the Depression and the New Deal, American artists transformed printmaking into one of the decade's most exciting forms of art. As a cheap, vital, and egalitarian means of artistic expression, prints came close to realizing the ideal of creating "art for the millions." In this dynamic book, Helen Langa shows how innovative printmakers developed "social viewpoint" works that focused on contemporary issues of labor justice, antiracism, and antifascist activism. Discussing artists such as Aaron Douglas, Mabel Dwight, Boris Gorelick, Harry Gottlieb, Elizabeth Olds, Harry Sternberg, Joseph Vogel, and Hale Woodruff, Langa explains how they developed new types of meaningful content, worked in modern, yet accessible, styles, invented new technical processes, and sought fresh strategies for distributing their work to the public. Many, but not all, of the artists she considers worked for the Federal Art Project at the Graphic Arts Division workshop; each struggled to resolve the conflicting goals of reaching a mass audience while also critiquing social injustice and promoting radical idealism.
Helen Langa is Associate Professor of Art History at American University.
