This summer, the Krannert Art Museum and the Kinkead Pavilion are hosts to 1930s artwork created by artists who were employed by the Works Progress Administration, one of the largest New Deal agencies. As a part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the funding of the artwork was a way to help the unemployed and create jobs. Like rolling back the clock, looking at the exhibit throws the viewer right into the midst of the economic crisis, both in the cities and in the rural countryside. Walker Evans’ lithograph "Clothesline," made in 1929, captures the everyday bleakness of city life. The stark contrast between the black and white colors draws attention to the thin black wires with shirts and trousers drying set against a barren white sky. The image brings out a sense of poverty, frugality and resourcefulness that people had to adapt to in the lifestyles.

Continuing through the exhibit one comes upon Grant Wood’s "March," a lithograph of a lone farmhouse built on top of a nondescript hill. Like "Clothesline," the country scene is drawn in black and white. The lack of color enables the viewer to focus in on the content and motion of the picture. Wood captures a windy day on the prairie through a lone tree by the house creaking as a storm descends. The fields, which stretch on for miles with no end in sight, curve and zigzag all over the canvas as if they are being whipped around by an unseen breeze. Finally, the tiny form of the farmer hurtles up on the hill in his horse drawn wagon.

Continuing through the gallery, one comes upon John Sloan’s "Hotel Lafayette" - formerly Martin’s (1928). It depicts the nightlife of the wealth and cosmopolitan prior to the crash on Black Tuesday. The etching zones in on an upscale, light, bright building. A pudgy pair descends the stairs; the man in a top hat, overcoat and cigar escorts a smug woman sporting a fur coat. A gay party of young couples approaches the hotel smiling dressed up for an evening of revelry. These people have absolutely no inkling that in an instant their night life will be kaput. Juxtaposed next to this happy scene of blissful ignorance, Osvaldo Louis Guglielmi presents an abrupt contrast with his oil on canvas, "The Mill Hands." An acute awareness of the Depression sets in with the workers meeting at an elderly woman’s house. Their sallow faces, sunken cheeks and slim bodies do not have the strength to keep a “chin-up." The people wear simple farm clothes and shorn hair styles that accentuate the lack of wealth and progress. In the background, the endless backbreaking mills pierce the skyline with pollution. These pieces and more are only a few of the products of a period of hard work, instability and hopelessness in the history of the United States. Yet, out of the economic crash and burn came art that exhibits the will to survive and thrive through creativity, even in hard times.