Hoboes walking by a billboard proclaiming 'Next Time Try The Train
Breadline beneath a billboard 'World's Highest Standard of Living'
These are iconic images from the era of the great Depression in America, and they gain their power from the juxtaposition of people enduring poverty against a context that promises them innovation, quality of life, abundance. As you might recall, I’ve become interested in the Depression, because of what it has to tell us about the economic situation we’re currently in. It’s been fascinating to study, as what seems to have come out of this era is the consumer culture of today, the mass market. And even more intriguing, it was in this era that the Great Divide, as it was known, came into being, between high and popular art.
