American Contemporary Art and Social Class

     People say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Even though there is not a single word on paintings, different people could read a thousand different messages from the same picture. I suppose that is one reason that art, especially photos and paintings is so attractive to many people, including me. Therefore, in order to better understand the theme of social class struggle, I paid a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art, to find these paintings that tell us stories about social class.

    One of the most famous paintings in the museum immediately got my attention, The Subway by George Tooker. The painting depicts a scene in the New York subway station during 1950's. There appears to be  a group of commuters walking in different directions. However, no matter where they are headed, you can feel a sense of aloofness, that everyone is distant from each other psychologically. Moreover, some of the people appear to be trapped in small rooms whiles other are separated by iron fences. The artist is using figurative way to show the status of the society in New York City during the time. There was prevalent social injustices and a sense of isolation among different classes. Everyone tends to stay or live within their own class.

    

     Another one that caught my attention is a photo named The Critic 1940 by Weegee. The picture is taken on the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera House's sixteenth season. On the left of the photo are two of the most well-known high society benefactors, Mrs. George Kavanaugh and Lady Decies. While on the right is a poor guy with unknown identity. There is clearly a strong contrast between the wealthy class and the poor one. One ironic part of the photo is that the two ladies obviously noticed the photographer and try to smile for the camera. On the other hand, they blatantly ignored the poor guy just step from them. The wealthy ladies with their shinning diamonds as representation of the wealthy class definitely had no interest to interact with the poor guy in his shabby clothes.

    The two art pieces made me think about the novel we read in the class, The Manhattan Transfer. The setting for them are both in New York City and a relatively close time period. Just as Dos Passo's description of Manhattan, there are so many people from different places come to the city to achieve their dreams. However, the ending is definitely not the same for everyone. One way or another, one finds himself to be put into a social class and  it is difficult to think about getting out of it, especially in the New York City where the contrast of the wealthy and the poor is at the extreme. One thing we can certainly learn from the paintings and the novel is that New York City in the 50's is a place full of class struggle. One can even argue it was a cruel place to live in. You do not get much choices, if you do not have the privilege of being the wealth, you either have to endure all the injustices against the lower class in the city or leave the city once and for all. One thing for sure, the ones at the top have to interest of helping or even associating themselves with the lower class. 

Tianlun Will Gao