Skip to content
Browse through and inquire about social realist and WPA artworks for sale at Caldwell Gallery Hudson.

Social realism and WPA (Works Progress Administration) art flourished between the two World Wars as a reaction to the hardships and problems suffered by common people starting with the Great Depression. Artists turned to realist portrayals of workers and ordinary folk as a way connect, portray, and relate to their plight. Celebrities were utilized as well as heroic symbols of strength in the face of adversity. The goal of the artists was both social as well as political. By exposing the challenged conditions of the poor and working classes, they could hold existing governmental and sociatal systems accountable.

Image of John Barber's cubist oil painting showing two bread bakers working in a kitchen.

John Barber
Bread Bakers (c.1930)
Oil on canvas 22" x 18"

 

INQUIRE

Image of Louis Bouche's 1948 painting titled "Judgement of Paris" showing an artist's studio with a man seated holding an apple.

Louis Bouche
Judgement of Paris (1948)
Oil on canvas, 40" x 50"

 

INQUIRE

Philip Evergood's painting "Lure of the Waters" depicting two naked men about to swim in a lake surrounded by large cliffs.

Philip Evergood 
Lure of the Waters (1946)
Oil on canvas mounted on masonite,36" x 48"

 

INQUIRE

Image of oil painting by Philip Evergood titled "Eat More Cranberries" showing a white man standing over black cranberry pickers in a bog.

Philip Evergood
Eat More Cranberries (c.1938)
Oil on masonite, 26" x 40"

 

INQUIRE

Image of oil painting by Gregorio Prestopino titled "The Junkman's Serenade" showing a man leaning on a truck and serenading birds in a tree.

Gregorio Prestopino
The Junkman's Serenade (c.1935)
Oil on canvas, 36" x 26"

 

INQUIRE

Image of Paul Sample's 1942 oil painting titled "Cartin' the Leaf" depicting a load of dried tobacco leaves on a cart being pulled by a white mule that has two young children on its back.

Paul Sample
Cartin' the Leaf (1942)
Oil on canvas, 26" x 42"

 

INQUIRE

Image of oil painting by Joseph Solman titled "ASPCA: Street Near Bellevue" depicting two figures in suits walking down a city sidewalk.

Joseph Solman
ASPCA: Street Near Bellevue (1939)
Oil on canvas, 25" x 34"

 

INQUIRE
 

Back To Top