Photographing People of the Depression

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Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945

Art and Entertainment in the 1930s and 1940s

Photographing the People of the Depression

The Federal Art Project was a government program designed to provide work for artists affected by the Depression. Many artists painted murals on such public buildings as courthouses and post offices. Some of these murals can still be seen today. Photographers working for the Farm Security Administration also fanned out across the country to document the effects of the Depression. The work of such photographers as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans not only provides enduring evidence of the "Hard Times" but also established the photographic documentary as an art form. Examine the pictures below. What evidence do they provide of the hardships of the Depression? How does looking at the photographs make you feel? What techniques did the photographers use to achieve this emotional effect? Would you classify these photographs as art? Why or why not?

Click on the photographs to view larger images. Find additional related images in Photographs from the FSA and OWI, 1935-1945. Use your browser's Back Button to return to this point.

Walker Evans Photographs

William Fields, Hale County, Alabama	Hitchhikers in Vicksburg, Mississippi
Farmyard covered with flood waters, Ridgeley, Tennessee	Negro children, Tupelo, Mississippi

Dorothea Lange Photographs

A depression-routed family of nine, Iowa	People living in miserable poverty, Elm Grove, Oklahoma
Eighteen-year-old mother from Oklahoma	Corn - drought stricken, Russellville, Arkansas

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Click on the photographs to view larger images. Find additional related images in Photographs from the FSA and OWI, 1935-1945. Use your browser's Back Button to return to this point.

Progressive Era to New Era | Great Depression and World War II | Postwar United States

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Last updated 09/26/2002