The Early Realism of Hopper and Burchfield

Abstract

Realism in American painting of the 1920s reveals two major directions—the picturization of the appearance of American life, or what was in the ‘thirties to be called the “American Scene,” which in spite of its surface objectivity often implied critical attitudes; and the more obviously critical art of social protest. The latter was kept alive in the pages of such radical publications as the Liberator, a direct descendant of the old Masses; Good Morning, Art Young's attempt to rival such European satirical journals as Gil Blas, Assiette au Beurre, Jugend and Simplicissimus; and the New Masses, the new rallying place for artists of social protest. The spirit of political and social criticism was kept alive in the cartoons and drawings in these magazines.