Interwar American Art: The Role Of Social Realism In Art

In contemporary art, the term “social realism” is traditionally associated with interwar American art which commented on social, political and economic conditions of the poor or working class. The movement and artistic explorations developed during the late 1920’s and 1930’s, a time of global depression, heightened racial conflict and the rise of fascism which combined became a catalyst of many artists and writers and their gravitation toward proletarian and underclass themes. Artists found inspiration through the tough depression times through the belief that their art could become a tool to expose the capitalist exploitation of workers and stem the advance of international fascism. Almost all participants of social realism in art and literature seem to have expressed and shared a strong faith in the capacity of cultural art and expression to leverage transformations in social and political standings for the poor and working class. …show more content…
In the 1930’s, particularly in America, social realism artists began to place emphasis on the role of the creative artist as a means to cause social change. African American social realists increasingly began to call attention to the threat of both race prejudice and class inequalities and used their cultural work as social criticism, a means of installing race pride and amplifying interracial working-class condition improvements. By moving taboo subjects such as poverty, race, homelessness, joblessness and racial violence into the scope of appropriate subject material, social realism gave rise to new ideologies of cultural work that visual art and literature could