Streamlines

Episode number 6 of Series “American visions”.
This episode covers American art and architecture from the Wall Street Crash to the eve of the Second World War. Even as Manhattan was on the verge of the Depression, the skyscraper reigned supreme. “New York’s shifting, rising skyline was like nothing Europe had ever seen”, notes Hughes, as he outlines Art Deco and describes the construction of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. FDR’s New Deal employed artists through the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which itself was the center of controversy when Diego Rivera had his left-wing fresco painted over by capitalist tycoon John D. Rockefeller. Major projects such as the Hoover Dam, representing “a rallying symbol for American self-confidence, so bruised and battered by the Great Depression,” were constructed. Urban artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Edward Hopper and Stuart Davis are featured. In the American Midwest, artists evoked a more conservative perspective, depicting idyllic scenes of rural and farm life. Highly innovative design was used to sell consumers a modern lifestyle. This movement culminated with the exhibition dedicated to the modern machine, the New York World’s Fair of 1939, which is remembered today as the last burst of utopian belief in the machine before the destruction left by the military technology of World War II. Written and presented by Robert Hughes.