Transcript Chapter 16 Section 4

Chapter 16
Section 4
The New Deal
And the Arts
WPA Programs
The Roosevelt administration launched a new
program to aid writers, musicians, actors and other
artists
In 1935 the Works Program Administration (WPA) sat
aside $300 million to create Federal Project Number
One, whose goal was to instill pride in American
culture by providing work under:
The Federal Writers Project (created travel Brochures, local
histories)
The Federal Theatre Project (brought theater to small towns)
The Federal Music Project (brought orchestra productions to
audiences)
The Federal Arts Project (created New Deal posters, taught art in
schools)
All of these programs hired unemployed people
Portraying the Depression
Many of the writers of this time incorporated themes of
the depression in their works
John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath about a
poor family traveling to California from the Dust Bowl
region
Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching
God and Richard Wright wrote Native Son about the
plights and hardships of African Americans during the
Depression
Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind about a
woman who survives war and economic chaos
Continued….
The most famous films of the time were “escapist”
films. Films made to help viewers forget their troubles.
The Marx Brothers Duck Soup and Ginger Rogers’
musical Gold Diggers of 1933 were examples of
escapist films
Other popular films tackled political and social issues
such as {Mr. Smith Goes to Washington directed by
Frank Capra.}
The film celebrated simple values and criticized the
wealthy politicians
By the late 1930’s the film industry had recovered from
the depression. They began to launch big-budget films
such as Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz
(both in 1939)
Frank Capra
Scenes from the movie
Mr. Smith goes to
Washington. The movie
pokes fun at politics
and the way
Washington D.C. is run
Music in the New Deal Era
Folk songs were the inspiration for Aaron Copland’s
most popular compositions such as Billy the Kid
Country music and the Grand Ole Opry came out of
this style of song
Gospel music, a cross between traditional spirituals
and jazz, also became popular. African American
composer Thomas A. Dorsey and singer Mahalia
Jackson brought gospel to a new height
Jazz continued to rise in popularity, largely through
swing. Swing got its name from the popular Duke
Ellington song “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got
That Swing”
White conductor, Benny Goodman helped to
popularize swing with his integrated band
Benny Goodman is the one with the clarinet.
Incidentally the guy with the trumpet is Louis Armstrong
Painters Examine Local Culture
American depression-era painters captured a variety of images
in their work
Harlem Artist Jacob Lawrence portrayed the daily lives of
African American heroes like Frederick Douglass and Harriet
Tubman
New Mexico artist {Georgia O’Keeffe painted haunting images
of the southwest desert landscape}
A group of Midwestern artists known as regionalists stressed
local folk themes and customs. They reminded urban art lovers
of America’s rural traditions. The most famous of the regionalist
paintings is Grant Wood’s American Gothic
Other folk artists that created handmade quilts and
woodcarvings such as Anna “Grandma” Moses, became well
known during this period
Jacob Lawrence
Georgia O’Keeffe
Grant Wood’s
American Gothic
Probably the most spoofed
painting in history