10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #16 - Departure of the Joads, from the Grapes of Wrath

Departure of the Joads, from The Grapes of Wrath, Thomas Hart Benton, 1939, Lithograph on ivory wove paper, 327 x 470 mm (image), The Art Institute of Chicago

Thomas Hart Benton was a rebel. The men in his family were professional politicians and military men - his great-great grandfather was governor of North Carolina, his great-great-uncle colonel in the Confederate army, his father was a colonel, and Congressman. But Thomas did not follow in the steps of his family, he left military school in Missouri in 1907 to go study at the Art Institute of Chicago. Eventually he studied in Paris during a period when Modernism was flourishing. When he returned to New York, he became an art teacher to Jackson Pollock and Rita Piacenza. Pollock is the famous abstract expressionist (who went on to be called "Jack the Dripper") and Rita became Benton's wife. He was in the midst of a variety of styles of art were exploding, but none of them really resonated with him.

When Benton's father fell ill, he returned home to Missouri to sit as he was dying. It became a pivotal moment in his life and he wrote about it in his memoir:

I cannot honestly say what happened to me while I watched my father die and listened to the voices of his friends, but I know that when, after his death, I went back East, I was moved by a great desire to know more of the America which I had glimpsed in the suggestive words of his old cronies...I was moved by a desire to pick up again the threads of my childhood.

So he began painting rural scenes and people from the Midwest and made these images symbols of the struggles and triumphs that happened in these humble places. Benton was at the forefront of a new "ism", this one American - Regionalism - one that is synonamous with the 1930s. He painted a series of murals for the 1932 World Exposition in Chicago depicting the history and culture of Indiana. He did not censor the bad with the good and included images of the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross, unemployment lines and labor riots. Though critics railed at these images being so public, Time Magazine put him on the cover and declared him to be one of the definining artists of the time.



Trying to take this subject matter and interest the art scene in New York was another matter. New York was on the cusp of becoming the art center of the world and tastes favored the modernism coming out of Europe, not the rural, earthy images of people and places in America's heartland - it just wasn't sophisticated enough for that scene. He turned his back on New York took a teaching position at the Kansas City Art Institute and taught and worked until his death in 1975. He is one of the most important artists of his day and his work is still respected as central to the Regionalism movement.

The series he did about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, include a lithograph entitled Departure of the Joads. There are many ways to make prints (see this excellent explanation called "What is a Print" by MOMA); a lithograph print has the image drawn on stone or metal instead of being etched into metal.

This lithograph illustrates a scene from the Grapes of Wrath, the moment that the Joad family is preparing to leave the poverty they faced in Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in order to find a better life in the rich fields of California. The image is printed in black and is rich in tones of grey between areas of black and white. The crescent moon is about in the center of the print and lights up part of the sky while the other half remains dark.

One detail of Benton's style is the curving lines you see everywhere: the ground, the clouds and even the figures undulate which creates a sense of movement. The house, clouds and logs all lead your eye to the family - even the light, moonlight sky highlights them in their departure activities. Not all of the family members are glad about this move - the women and Grampa (who sits forlornly by the door of the shack) look dejected and powerless about the decision. Ma Joad embraces Granma to support her in her decision to leave with the family, leaving Grampa behind - he refuses to leave. The scene is packed with a lot of emotion, but the artist puts almost no facial features in the characters, and relies on the body language and poses to tell the viewer what is happening.

Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's novel was published in 1939 and one of the movie studios, 20th Century Fox, jumped on the book to use for a movie version. Benton was commissioned by the studio to produce the images to promote the film. Five of the artworks were portraits of the characters, but The Departure of the Joads was the sixth work he made and turned out to be the most powerful and long lived. It was enlarged to billboard size and he also reproduced it in color as a painting. It was also included in its original form in the 1940 edition of the novel.

American people across the nation identified with this powerful image - it reflected the hard times they had been through with the Great Depression and the feelings so many people felt - anxiousness, sorrow over broken dreams but a tentative optimism that is so characteristic of American people. The road represents the future and a journey to a better life. His image represents both spectrums - Grampa's inability to forge ahead and embrace change alongside Granma's hesitancy and anguish about the choice she is making. But the men of the Joad family have the courage to carry the family ahead. All of these emotions permeated the country in the 1930s and this image captured the essence of an important historical period.

On a personal note, I was speaking to my own students Friday about the hardships that this country is experiencing now. We talked about other periods of hardship our young country has gone through. This image is a powerful one today showing the characteristics of the people in this country that have made it great: vision, determination, hard work, sacrifice and grit. One of my students how long this current period of hardship would last, 5 yrs? I don't know the answer, but I have faith that if we pull together, love and support each other, we can come out of this stronger than ever.

Thomas Hart Benton self portrait, 1972

08/09 Academic Decathlon Image #16

Figure in Illuminated Doorway, Rufino Tamayo, 1960, Color lithograph, 65 x 50 cm (Art after Independence)

Tamayo, though he had contact with artists such as Siqueiros and Orozco, and was aware of the work of Rivera, took a different path, made work that was rather small and not political in nature. He lived and taught in New York and in Paris. In 1960 (the date of this lithograph), he moved back to Mesico until his death in 1991. He and his wife had an impressive collection of Pre-Hispanic art and left it for a museum in Oaxaca. Another museum (Ruffino Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art) opened in 1981 and houses his work along with other contemporary artists. (There is also a PowerPoint from another high school that references the work after Independence. It has highlights about the pieces.)

This type of print is unlike the etchings in the previous posts. This is a lithograph - check out MOMA's explanation of printmaking - you will learn about 4 processes here! THIS IS A FABULOUS FLASH DEMONSTRATION OF THE PRINTMAKING PROCESS - YOU MUST CHECK THIS OUT!! (You can tell I really like this site!)

Anway - he was interested in still life and genre scenes (images of everyday activities). This female silouette in in a doorway with one hand resting on the doorframe. It seems that her head is covered by a veil and is shaped kind of like a keyhole. His palette is simple - black, white, red and shades of yellowish-browns. The featureless figure could represent common experiences at key stages in life. Modern subjects often move towards themes that have broad universality with the viewer.

08/09 Academic Decathlon Image #11

Untitled (Our Lady of Guadalupe), a page accompanying a thesis submitted to the law faculty in Guadalajara by Joseph Turibius Gonzalez et Ramirez, Francisco Aguera Bustamante, Engraver, 1796, engraving, 11.1 x 7.3 cm (image) (Art during the Colonial Era)

This particular kind of image of the Virgin Mary is specific to Mexico and is still an very important symbol of national identity. She is reported to have appeared in Mexico in 1531 just after the Spaniards defeated the Aztecs. During this time, large numbers of Aztecs were converting to Christianity.

The narrative specific to this vision of the Virgin involves a poor Aztec man , Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1471-1548). He had already converted to the Catholic religion. One day on his travels, he experienced a vision of the Virgin on a hill. She sent him to the bishop with the request for a church dedicated to her in that spot. Not surprisingly, when he delivered his story of the vision and instructions, he was spurned by Bishop Juan de Zumarraga.

Juan Diego went back to the spot, waiting to see the Virgin again. When she made another miraculous appearance, she dispatched him to find a rare species of rose that would not have normally been growing at that time of the year. He set off on his mission and wrapped the flowers in his tilma (a type of cape). The virgin arranged the garment with the flowers and sent him back to the Bishop.

When he opened his cape to reveal the flowers, a miraculous image of the Virgin appeared on his garment, and the Bishop fell to his knees and agreed to build the church at the top of the hill where there had been an Aztec temple. The power of the miracle has transferred to this symbol as the patron of the masses.

08/09 Academic Decathlon Image #6

La Calavera Catrina (Calavera of the Fashionable Lady), Jose Guadalupe Posada, 1913, Relief Etching on Zinc (Art after Independence)

The first thing I want to mention is that Posada produced at least 2,000 plates for etching in his lifetime! Ay caramba!!! That is prolific! His work is often satirical, and his calaveras (skull in Spanish) were shown in every kind of activity as social and political satire. Like so many other artists, though he spent his life expressing the world he saw around him, he died in relative obscurity. Diego Rivera told stories about Posada as his teacher, though the veracity of those stories is questionable.

This print is one of his most famous. The etching process involved engraving on a sheet of metal then treating that metal in an acid bath that left the lines in relief. Many copies were printed from that plate which made it economical and capable of being distributed widely. One of the factors in his lack of notoriety is that he was paid much like a skilled laborer instead of a fine artist.

This skeleton is dressed in the fashion of a wealthy woman with her elegant hat and fancy hair ribbons. But as is often portrayed in Art History, death is a stranger to no one, and for the working class there was an element of comfort knowing that the powerful would meet their maker as everyone else. The grin and festive attitude of the calavera reminds the living to not take life so seriously - it's only life, after all! Read more about Posoda, etching, Diego's connection and more here.

Artist of the Week - Gustave Baumann

A friend asked me about the calendar reproductions I have of Gustave Baumann in my bathroom, causing me to research him for this week's feature artist. I admire his work tremendously - woodblock prints that have great depth and texture, works that vividly show the colors and the air of the American Southwest (one of my favorite places), and an incredible sense of design in his compositions while reflecting the natural world around us. Analyzing one piece of his could keep you busy all day! The fact that he builds his images layer by layer gives me great appreciation for his skill and patience as an artist. If you happen to be traveling to Santa Fe this next year, check out the exhibit of Baumann which runs to Sept. 9, 2007! Here's a link to the info: http://www.mfasantafe.org/display.php?menu=view_exhib&ex_id=40