Streamlines and Breadlines

Here's a recommended pathway to follow as you complete your Web lesson:

    		• View the following images from Group A (below), then consider the following questions:

  • Are these images optimistic?

  • How is optimism reflected in the images?

  • Analyze the artworks in formal terms relating to composition, color palette, and rhythm.

  • Describe the mood or atmosphere of the works. How do these works make you feel?

  • How do the formal qualities of the work (structure, use of verticals, vibrant color, etc.) effect your emotional impression of the work?

    Group A: Streamlines

    For information on the growth of cities, visit the following sites:

    The Voice of the City of New York Interpreted: The Bridge, 1920-22, Joseph Stella. (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/laic/episode3/topic1/e3_t1_s2-cl.html)

    American Landscape, 1930, Charles Sheeler. (http://www.thirteen.org/americanvisions/gallery/g_5.7a.landscape. html)

    The Chrysler Building, New York, c. 1930, William Van Alen. (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/20_sky1b.html)

    Icarus Atop Empire State Building, c. 1931, Lewis Hine. (http://www.masters-of-photography.com/H/hine/hine_icarus.html)

    Swing Landscape, 1938, Stuart Davis. (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ASI/musi212/emily/davis3.html)

    Now view the works from Group B, below. How do these images contrast with the images from Group A? What are your impressions of these works?

    		• Group B: Breadlines

    For in-depth information on the Great Depression, visit the following Web page and print the text:

    Lecture 18: the Crash and the Great Depression. (http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/hist102/lectur18/lectur18.html.)

    View the following images:
    Early Sunday Morning, 1930, Edward Hopper. (http://www.globalgallery.com/canvas/022-42569/.)

    Village Speakeasy Closed for Violation, c. 1934, Ben Shahn. (http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/artgallery.htm.)

    The Migration of the Negro: Panel No. 15, 1940-41, Jacob Lawrence. (http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/40s/Artists/Lawrence1.jpgº)

    The Migration of the Negro: Panel No. 3, 1940-41, Jacob Lawrence. (http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/40s/Artists/Lawrence2.jpg )

    The Street, 1985, Romare Bearden. (http://www.nga.gov/feature/bearden/170-143.htm.)

    After viewing these works, discuss them in terms of factors that affected the growth of cities from the 1920s to the present. Immigration, northern migration, industrialization, and economic developments all fueled this growth.

    		• Choose any image from Group A and compare and contrast it in an essay with one image from Group B. Included in the essay should be an historical overview of the years the works were created and the historical factors in which reflected in the images.
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