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.
At top of page: Chet La More, Civilians, ca. 1937. Lithograph. Allocated by the US Government, Commissioned through the New Deal art projects, 1943-4-231.
Riva Helfond, Custom Made, 1938, lithograph, museum purchase through the Richard M. and
Rosann Gelvin Noel Krannert Art Museum Fund, 2020-3-1