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==Art and music==

==Art and music==

The [[Works Progress Administration]] subsidized artists, musicians, painters and writers on relief with a group of projects called [[Federal One]].  While the WPA program was by the most widespread, it was preceded by three programs administered by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] which hired commercial artists at usual commissions to add murals and sculptures to federal buildings. The first of these efforts was the [[Public Works of Art Project]], organized by Edward Bruce, an American businessman and artist.  The [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA) and [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA) had major photography programs.  The New Deal arts programs emphasized regionalism, socialist realism, class conflict, proletarian interpretations, and audience participation. The unstoppable collective powers of common man, contrasted to the failure of individualism, was a favorite theme.<ref>Mathews 1975</ref>

The [[Works Progress Administration]] subsidized artists, musicians, painters and writers on relief with a group of projects called Federal One.  While the WPA program was by the most widespread, it was preceded by three programs administered by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] which hired commercial artists at usual commissions to add murals and sculptures to federal buildings. The first of these efforts was the Public Works of Art Project, organized by Edward Bruce, an American businessman and artist.  The Resettlement Administration (RA) and [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA) had major photography programs.  The New Deal arts programs emphasized regionalism, socialist realism, class conflict, proletarian interpretations, and audience participation. The unstoppable collective powers of common man, contrasted to the failure of individualism, was a favorite theme.<ref>Mathews 1975</ref>

The FSA photography project is most responsible for creating the image of the Depression in the USA. Many of the images appeared in popular magazines. The photographers were under instruction from Washington as to what overall impression the New Deal wanted to give out. Director [[Roy Stryker]]'s agenda focused on his faith in [[social engineering]], the poor conditions among cotton tenant farmers, and the very poor conditions among migrant farm workers; above all he was committed to social reform through New Deal intervention in people's lives. Stryker demanded photographs that "related people to the land and vice versa" because these photographs reinforced the RA's position that poverty could be controlled by "changing land practices." Though Stryker did not dictate to his photographers how they should compose the shots, he did send them lists of desirable themes, e.g., "church", "court day", "barns".<ref>Cara A. Finnegan. ''Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs'' (Smithsonian Books, 2003) pp 43-44</ref>  New Deal era films such as ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' ridiculed so-called "great men", while class warfare appeared in numerous movies, such as ''[[Meet John Doe]]'' and ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''.  

The FSA photography project is most responsible for creating the image of the Depression in the USA. Many of the images appeared in popular magazines. The photographers were under instruction from Washington as to what overall impression the New Deal wanted to give out. Director Roy Stryker's agenda focused on his faith in [[social experiment|social engineering]], the poor conditions among cotton tenant farmers, and the very poor conditions among migrant farm workers; above all he was committed to social reform through New Deal intervention in people's lives. Stryker demanded photographs that "related people to the land and vice versa" because these photographs reinforced the RA's position that poverty could be controlled by "changing land practices." Though Stryker did not dictate to his photographers how they should compose the shots, he did send them lists of desirable themes, e.g., "church", "court day", "barns".<ref>Cara A. Finnegan. ''Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs'' (Smithsonian Books, 2003) pp 43-44</ref>  New Deal era films such as ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' ridiculed so-called "great men", while class warfare appeared in numerous movies, such as ''Meet John Doe'' and ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''.  

By contrast, there was also a smaller but influential stream of anti-New Deal art.  Thus [[Gutzon Borglum]]'s sculptures on [[Mount Rushmore]] emphasized great men in history (his designs had the approval of [[Calvin Coolidge]]).  [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Ernest Hemingway]] disliked the New Deal and celebrated the organic autonomy of perfected written work in opposition to the New Deal trope of writing as performative labor.  The [[Southern Agrarians]] celebrated a premodern regionalism and opposed the TVA as a modernizing, disruptive force.  Under Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], the Supreme Court built one of the most architecturally striking buildings; its classical lines and small size contrasted sharply with the gargantuan modernistic federal buildings in Washington.  Hollywood managed to synthesize both streams, as in [[Busby Berkeley]]'s ''Gold Digger'' musicals, where the storylines exalt individual autonomy while the spectacular musical numbers show abstract populations of interchangeable dancers securely contained within patterns beyond their control.<ref>Szalay 2000</ref>

By contrast, there was also a smaller but influential stream of anti-New Deal art.  Thus [[Gutzon Borglum]]'s sculptures on [[Mount Rushmore]] emphasized great men in history (his designs had the approval of [[Calvin Coolidge]]).  [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Ernest Hemingway]] disliked the New Deal and celebrated the organic autonomy of perfected written work in opposition to the New Deal trope of writing as performative labor.  The Southern Agrarians celebrated a premodern regionalism and opposed the TVA as a modernizing, disruptive force.  Under Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], the Supreme Court built one of the most architecturally striking buildings; its classical lines and small size contrasted sharply with the gargantuan modernistic federal buildings in Washington.  Hollywood managed to synthesize both streams, as in Busby Berkeley's ''Gold Digger'' musicals, where the storylines exalt individual autonomy while the spectacular musical numbers show abstract populations of interchangeable dancers securely contained within patterns beyond their control.<ref>Szalay 2000</ref>

==See also==

==See also==