Description

Many American artists depicted the effects of the Great Depression. In the 1930s, art helped identify and criticize injustice, economic inequities, and racial discrimination. Using powerful imagery, artists crusaded on behalf of the poor, the dispossessed, and the exploited. Turzak's stark design generates sympathy for the homeless men who sleep, shielded only by newspapers, in Chicago's Grant Park.

To alleviate the devastating effects of the Depression, President Roosevelt began the Work Projects Administration (WPA), a federal employment program. Artists were helped as well by the Work Projects Administration/Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP), which stimulated printmaking between 1935 and 1942 by providing workshops, instruction, and equipment.