Art and Music of the Depression

Warm-up How do music, movies or art help you deal with things that are difficult in your life?

Key Questions for this class How did the arts reflect Americans’ experiences in the depression? How did Americans entertain themselves during the depression?

Art during the Depression The depression saw a flourishing of art and literature as a means of escape from the hardships of the time. Superman, the Lone Ranger, Batman, and Wonder Woman all made their appearances in the 1930s.

Batman comic from the 1930s

Notes continued Literature flourished during this time period because it offered an escape. The 1930s also brought about a rise in fast- paced music that gave people a chance to free themselves from their lives. Some of the music was also used as a way to reflect the problems of the time. Radio, Movies and spectator sports were other escapes.

Fred Astaire was a star in the 1930s movies

Joe Louis was a famous boxer

1930s New York Yankees

Wilbur Shaw winning the Indy 500

First world Cup was in the 1930s

Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck “In the roads where the teams moved, where the wheel milled the ground and the hooves of the horses beat the ground, the dirt crust broke an dust formed. Every moving things lifted the dust into the air: a walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as the fence tops, and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it. The dust was long in settling back again. “ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1

Dr. Seuss wrote in the 1930s

America Gothic by Grant Wood

In the 1930s, the government paid artists (Public works of Art Program) to paint the nation this piece is called Builders by Charles f. Quest

Exit slip Create a piece of art (music, literature, or drawing) that that expresses how the depression affected many Americans during the 1930s.