Print Study Room: Purple Nation

Black and white photograph of sign that reads “ASK FOR CREDIT AND DROP DEAD”

Jacques Lowe, title unknown, c. 1950, gelatin silver print on paper, 6 ⅞ x 9 ⅞ inches, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of M. Robin Krasny, 2017.39.1

‘Purple Nation: Welfare and Politics,’ a Scribner Seminar with Associate Professor of Social Work Pat Oles

Red and blue states combine to form a purple nation. Enduring arguments about race and gender, the role and scale of government, the benefits and problems inherent in a market economy, and the primacy of family and civil society complicate the development of a social safety net in the United States.

These topics are illustrated below with art from the Tang collection and other sources.

Post War

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of a confrontation between light-skinned factory workers and police and the other image is a painting of multi-generational dark-skinned people holding farm tools in a field.

Image at left: Unrecorded artist, Scuffle Outside Struck Sperry Plant, 1955, gelatin silver print on paper, 7 ⅜ x 8 ⅝ inches, The Jack Shear Collection of Photography at the Tang Teaching Museum, 2018.38.496; Image at right: Ellis Wilson, Field Workers, 1948-1951, oil on fiberboard, from Google Arts & Culture, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of two light-skinned women on a couch with another woman working in the kitchen and the other image is a film still of light-skinned woman vacuuming.

Image at left: Jacques Lowe, title unknown (from New York Girls), c. 1950, gelatin silver print on paper, 9 x 13 ½ inches, Teaching Museum, gift of M. Robin Krasny, 2017.39.4; Image at right: “1950s Household Montage; Cooking and Laundry,” YouTube, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source video)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of a dark-skinned woman sitting on a subway seat looking tired, and the other image is a black and white film still of a 1950s station wagon parked in front of a garage.

Image at left: Louis Stettner, Subway Series, 1946, gelatin silver print on paper, 19 ⅞ x 16 inches, Teaching Museum, gift of M. Robin Krasny in honor of Elizabeth Gronquist Sakman, 2018.30.80; Image at right: “1950’s TV Ad,” YouTube, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source video)

Two images side by side, one image is a color print of a dark-skinned woman seated in a bathroom resting her head and arm on the sink and holding a piece of paper, and the other image is a black and white film still of a drawing of cold cream cosmetic containers.

Image at left: Tracey Moffatt, Birth Certificate, 1962, 1994, photolithograph on Arches paper, 34 ½ x 26 ⅝ inches, Teaching Museum, gift of Ann and Mel Schaffer Family Collection, 2019.61.6.1; Image at right: “Shocking 1950s Cosmetics Ad,“ YouTube, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source video)

Image at left: Edward Schwartz, Injured freight railroad brakeman on a binge with O'Conner, Chatham Square - Bowery, New York City, 1949, gelatin silver print on paper, 14 x 11 inches, On extended loan to the Tang Teaching Museum, EL2019.1.514; Image at right: Edward Hopper, Office at Night, 1940, oil on canvas, from “Edward Hopper, Paintings, Biography, and Quotes,” online, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of a crowded beach and boardwalk, and the other image is a color print of a painting of a light-skinned man with a look of shock and text that reads “THE MOST TALKED ABOUT DRAMA OF OUR TIME THE RED MENACE SO SHOCKING IT WAS FILMED BEHIND LOCKED STUDIO DOORS.”

Image at left: Max Yavno, Muscle Beach, Venice, California, 1949, gelatin silver print on paper, 5 ⅝ x 9 ½ inches, The Jack Shear Collection of Photography at the Tang Teaching Museum, 2015.1.455; Image at right: The Red Menace, from “The Red Menace: A Striking Gallery of Anti-Communist Posters, Ads, Comic Books, Magazines & Films,” Open Culture, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of three light-skinned women eating in a living room, and the other image is a color photograph of a McDonald’s restaurant sign indicating that hamburgers cost 15 cents.

Image at left: Jacques Lowe, Three women eating from tray tables in an apartment, c. 1950, gelatin silver print on paper, 14 x 11 inches, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of M. Robin Krasny in honor of Elizabeth Gronquist Sakman, 2018.30.6; Image at right: McDonalds, from “Fast Food Restaurants Then and Now,” online, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

The Sixties

Two images side by side, one image is a color print of a light-skinned woman with a speech bubble that reads “THE MELODY HAUNTS MY REVIERIE…” and the other image is a painting of a young dark-skinned girl walking between a group of four adult men with graffiti on the wall that reads “NIGGER.”

Image at left: Roy Lichtenstein, Reverie, 1965, screen print on paper, 30 x 24 inches, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of Judith Selkowitz, Class of 1966, 1979.129; Image at right: Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With, 1964, oil on canvas, from Norman Rockwell Museum, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side-by-side, one image is a black and white photograph of a light-skinned teenage boy smiling and sitting on a house porch that has a broken rail and chipping paint, and the other image is a black and white photograph of a light-skinned family in their living room turning on a T.V.

Image at left: Jack Welpott, Young Boy, Stinesville, Indiana, 1966, gelatin silver print on paper, 9 ⅛ x 11 ¾ inches, The Jack Shear Collection of Photography at the Tang Teaching Museum, 2015.1.456; Image at right: 1960s family in living room watching TV, from “The New Challenges of Parenting,” Tufts Now, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side-by-side, one image is a black and white campaign poster with big and small text that reads “A RULE OF THUMB OF REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS IS THAT NO MATTER HOW OPPRESSIVE THE RULLING CLASS MAY BE NO MATTER HOW IMPOSSIBLE THE TASK OF MAKING REVOLUTION MAY SEEM THE MEANS OF MAKING THAT REVOLUTION ARE ALWAYS NEAR AT HAND. ELDRIDGE CLEAVER FOR PRESIDENT Minister of information / Black Panther Party” and the other image is a black and white photograph of a light-skinned man at a podium in front of a confederate flag.

Image at left: Unrecorded artist, Eldridge Cleaver for President, 1968, silkscreen on paper, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of Jack Shear, 2017.45.7; Image at right: George Wallace, from “Gannett CDN,” last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photo portrait on newsprint paper of a dark-skinned woman looking directly at the camera, and the other image is a black and white photograph of a group of light-skinned women holding protest signs behind a light-skinned woman speaking into a megaphone.

Image on left: Allen Zak, Untitled (Angela Davis), 1969, ink on paper, 21 ⅝ x 16 ⅜ inches, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of Jack Shear, 2017.45.8; Image on right: Phyllis Schlafly, from “How Phyllis Schafly Killed The Equal Rights Amendment With An Army Of Homemakers,” All That’s Interesting, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of crowd of mostly dark-skinned people surrounding a casket and holding protest signs at the Lincoln Memorial, and the other image is a crowd of light-skinned people holding protest signs and American flags in front of a large building with columns.

Image at left: Unrecorded artist, Casket in the Parade, August 28, 1963, gelatin silver print on paper, 6 ⅝ x 9 ⅛ inches, The Jack Shear Collection of Photography at the Tang Teaching Museum, 2017.45.18; Image on right: Crowd protests the admission of black students to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1959, from “Massive Resistance,” Segregation in America, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Image at left: Emory Douglas, Warning to America, 1970, silkscreen on paper, 22 ¾ x 15 inches, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of Jack Shear, 2017.45.4; Image at right: Women’s Strike for Peace and Equality in New York City on Aug. 26, 1970, from “Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot,” TIME online, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is a black and white photograph of a group of seven dark-skinned people looking in different directions, and the other image is a black and white photograph of a stadium full of people with a light-skinned man sitting at a piano and an another light-skinned man at a podium on stage.

Image at left: Kwame Brathwaite, Untitled (Garvey Day Parade - Harlem), 1967, printed 2018, 17 x 17 inches, Tang Teaching Museum, purchase, 2018.24.6; Image at right: Billy Graham, from “A Look Back at Billy Graham in Birmingham,” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Two images side by side, one image is of a tightly packed group of people protesting, some are yelling and others are holding mics and cameras, the other image is a black and white photograph of brick city buildings with sign that reads “STONEWALL INN.”

Image at left: Garry Winogrand, New York City (Hard-Hat Rally, New York), 1969, printed in 1978, gelatin silver print on paper, 9 x 13 ⅜ inches, Tang Teaching Museum, gift of Penny Kaniclides, Class of 1959, 1983.21.5; Image at right: The Stonewall Inn, 1969, from “Stonewall Inn: The birthplace of gay rights,” The Vintage News, last accessed July 9, 2020 (click for link to source image)

Assignment

Write an essay (800–1,000 words) contrasting two objects or images—one object should be selected from the Tang collection and one from another source. The essay should elaborate 1) how each of the objects reveal social, political, and/or economic influences on social welfare policy in 20th-century USA and 2) discuss the implications of the contrasting images. The images/objects do not have to have been created during the same era but they should be representations of a similar time period.