Street Scene

Joe Jones, Street Scene, 1933, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.114
Copied Joe Jones, Street Scene, 1933, oil on canvas, 25 1⁄8 x 35 7⁄8 in. (63.7 x 91.1 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.114

Artwork Details

Title
Street Scene
Artist
Date
1933
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
25 1⁄8 x 35 7⁄8 in. (63.7 x 91.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
  • New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — Missouri
  • Cityscape — Missouri — St. Louis
  • Occupation — industry — construction
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — skyscraper
  • Architecture Exterior — detail — streetlight
  • Cityscape — street
  • Figure group
Object Number
1964.1.114
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1964.1.114

Artwork Description

These workers are demolishing a St. Louis building as evening falls and street lights begin to glow. In the midst of the Great Depression, modest houses and shops around Market Street gave way to wider streets, graceful parks, and the Municipal Auditorium. The pointed tower of the new Civil Courts Building in the background, built in 1930, shows how the city was being transformed.

A few months before Joe Jones made this painting, he had told the St. Louis Artists' Guild, "I am not interested in painting pretty pictures to match pink and blue walls, I want to paint things that will knock holes in walls." Yet the warm light on the dilapidated street and the industrial smoke that veils the new buildings in the background suggest that the artist did not embrace these changes uncritically. Jones lived in a houseboat on the Mississippi not far from the construction around Market Street; he knew the old neighborhood that was vanishing and would miss the people and businesses pushed aside in the name of progress.

1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label

Related Books

1934_500.jpg
1934: A New Deal for Artists
During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.