Bibframe Work
TitleGoldstein Foundation collectionOther Titles (e.g. Variant)Ben and Beatrice Goldstein collection of prints and drawingsTypeStill ImageCollectionSubjectBig business--1800-1980 (LCTGM)Economic & social conditions--1800-1980 (LCTGM)Laborers--1890-1980 (LCTGM)Manners & customs--1800-1980 (LCTGM)Politics & government--1800-1980 (LCTGM)Socialism--1900-1960 (LCTGM)Strikes--1880-1940 (LCTGM)United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 (LCSH)Periodical illustrations--1830-1980 (GMGPC)Cartoons (Commentary)--1830-1980 (GMGPC)Prints--1830-1980 (GMGPC)Drawings--1830-1980 (GMGPC) SummaryThe collection represents the legacy of realist artists Robert Henri, John Sloan, and Thomas Hart Benton, under whom many of the artists in the exhibition studied and who stood as advocates of representational art. These artists rejected abstraction--in spite of its growing influence in America--as irrelevant and inaccessible. Their empathetic depictions of ordinary men and women enduring or enjoying their everyday lives expressed the pain and rare pleasures experienced by Americans during a period that witnessed two world wars and a devastating economic depression. Artists used their art to fight for civil rights and against social or economic injustice. In a time of almost universal hardship, their images conveyed understanding. Along with landmark images in the history of American political art, Ben Goldstein assembled outstanding holdings of works by creators who shared his social concerns. Among these artists were women, African Americans, and the Mexican muralists who were so influential at the time. The collection is particularly rich in images from the 1930s, when the turmoil and uncertainty of the Depression led increasing numbers of artists to turn toward socially relevant subject matter. Their images include moving portraits, scathing satires, haunting images of social ills, and more lighthearted depictions of life in the first half of the 20th centuryAuthorized Access PointGoldstein Foundation collectionCollection ArrangementCollection Organization: Organized into one series filed under the call number "Goldstein" and one series filed under LOTs 14012-14019. Textual materials related to the compilation of the collection are in the Supplemental Archives - Goldstein Collection.