Street Scene

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: Joe Jones
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: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Cityscape — Missouri — St. Louis
New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — Missouri
Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
Architecture Exterior — commercial — skyscraper
Architecture Exterior — detail — streetlight
Occupation — industry — construction
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

Works by this artist (3 items)

Washington, D.C., 1975

Artist

Kenneth Josephson

Date1975

gelatin silver print

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with…

Artist

Kenneth Josephson

Date1981

flag, stamps, picture frame, chain, and magnifying glass

Image Not Available

Stockholm

Artist

Kenneth Josephson

Date1967

gelatin silver print

Related Books

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.