The heaviness of her posture and expression suggest that she is burdened by sadness or despair. The visitor, still in her coat and hat, leans towards the father as though listening to him, as she writes on a sheet of paper. As the traditional family provider, his hands are strangely idle. The daughter puts on her lipstick – is she trying to ignore the situation around her or to “put her best face forward” under difficult circumstances? The father looks at the visitor and holds one hand to his chin. She is not doing housework, perhaps because she has little to work with in her sparse surroundings. The mother, usually so busy in a home, stares despondently out of the painting. The viewer can clearly see figures’ expressions and actions, or lack thereof. Guglielmi painted the most expressive features of these people – their hands and faces – especially large. Perhaps these furnishings once filled a more spacious, more comfortable home. Their delicacy and beauty seem as though they belong to another world. Two light pink roses decorate the edge of the floor cover. A small stove, prominently placed in the foreground of the painting, does little to warm this shelter with its somber colors and lack of pictures, mementos, or other signs of family life. The space feels cramped with barely enough space to sit around the table and a bed crammed into a corner of the back room. We see four people and a few simple furnishings in this interior. Louis Guglielmi give us? Observing details and analyzing components of the painting, then putting them in historical context, enables the viewer to interpret the overall message of the work of art. What information can we learn about the experience of a family applying for government assistance during The Great Depression? What clues does artist O. Many artists at the time, including the mural’s artist William Gropper, were employed by New Deal economic programs to embellish public buildings.Īrtist make choices in communicating ideas. The benefits of these programs were two-fold the jobless were provided jobs, and these jobs were attached to projects that benefited the American people much like the dam which provided the public with both power and irrigation and jobs for the construction workers. Roosevelt’s New Deal economic programs, intended to provide the nation with relief, recovery and reform. This construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State was part of President Franklin D. A construction-themed mural study depicts the triumph of the American spirit through hard work, ingenuity and perseverance. But the country would soon pull itself out of the Depression. Families faced humiliation when applying for federal aid, for the aid was only granted after a long and invasive investigation into personal assets and finances. The emotional toll on the family is depicted in the painting Relief Blues. The unemployment of many Americans after the crash of 1929 was a demoralizing blow. ![]() ![]() The Interior, Washington, D.C.), detail, 1938, William Gropper Construction of the Dam (study for mural, the Department of
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