Rendering Visible
courtesy Krannert Art Museum
Chet La More, 'Civilians,' ca. 1937. Allocated by the US Government, commissioned through the New Deal art projects.
Chet La More's 'Civilians,' 1937, was commissioned through the New Deal's art projects.
The New Deal-era Works Progress Administration sent millions back to work during the Great Depression — including many visual artists. While a lot of art was designed to help lift people’s spirits, other works documented American life during hard times. The lithographs collected in “Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice in 1930s United States” mostly feature the latter thematic focus. Curator Kathryn Koca Polite (from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Krannert Art Museum, home of the exhibition’s first incarnation) says some pieces tap into “surrealist nightmare fuel.” That sounds appropriate for our current moment. Read Chali Pittman’s exhibition preview here. Historian Dana Landress will present a related talk, "Rendering Visible," making connections between images in the exhibition and our current times, at 5 p.m. Sept. 17; register at eventbrite.com.
media release: How can artists call attention to critical issues and realities of their time?
Join Dana Landress, assistant professor of medical history and bioethics, for a talk that delves deeper into the art on view in Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice in 1930s United States. As a scholar focused on the histories of structural racism, economic inequality, and labor history, Landress will invite attendees to make connections between the themes in the exhibition and our current moment.
About the speaker:
Dana Landress is a historian of 19th and 20th century medicine and public health in the United States. Her research examines the relationship between nutritional disease, community health work, and the political economy of capitalism in the U.S. South. Her forthcoming book details the social history of pellagra, a nutritional deficiency disease, and its prevalence in the U.S. South across the early 20th century. She is also at work on an edited volume which features the collaborative work of scholars, activists, and healthcare providers to document community healthcare interventions across the U.S. South in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More on the exhibition:
During the Great Depression, visual artists in the United States were put to work through the relief efforts of the New Deal to provide a living wage and to bolster the spirits of the American public. Many used the opportunity to portray everyday life in the United States through images of modern and rural landscapes, leisure activities, and industrial growth, while others directed attention to economic toil and key social issues. Pressing Issues brings together work by artists who, through their art, produced radical critical commentaries on the social injustices plaguing the country in their time.
Curated by Kathryn Koca Polite, organized by the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Sponsored in part by Illinois’ College of Fine and Applied Arts, the International Fine Print Dealers Association, and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
Support at the Chazen provided in part by the Anonymous Fund.
