Download or read book Social Realism: Art as a Weapon written by David Shapiro and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1973 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an introductory essay, David Shapiro appraises the roots and achievements of Social Realism, providing an overall framework within which the source material that follows can be understood. Was Social Realism only a response to the economic collapse of the 1930s, or was it part of a continuing American art tradition? A primary selection of documents -- ranging from Hugo Gellert's exultant" We Capture the Walls" (1932) to Oliver Larkin's retrospective "Common Cause" (1949) -- fixes the period's social and aesthetic background. It includes spirited contributions by Diego Rivera, Meyer Schapiro, Stuart Davis, and others. A second selection of documents focuses on five major Social Realists -- Philip Evergood, William Gropper, Jacob Lawrence, Jack Levine, and Ben Shahn -- for closer study. This section includes individual biographical outlines, personal statements by the artists, and representative critical analyses of their work. The book concludes with an especially compiled list of major Social Realists, an extended bibliography, and a detailed index. Includes ten reproductions. --! From book jacket.