Industry, Work, Society, and Travails in the Depression Era: American Paintings and Photographs from the Shogren-Meyer Collection

Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter, Minnesota

September 9 through November 10. 

Tweed Museum of Art - University of Minnesota Duluth

January, 2021

The Hillstrom Museum of Art presents Industry, Work, Society, and Travails in the Depression Era: American Paintings and Photographs from the Shogren-Meyer Collection, on view from September 9 through November 10.

Industry, Work, Society, and Travails in the Depression Era will feature 95 works of art, mostly dating from the 1930s.  Among the photographers represented in the Shogren-Meyer collection and the exhibit based on it are Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks.  Among the painters included are Marvin Cone, John Steuart Curry, Ernest Fiene, Thomas Nagai, and Zoltan Sepeshy.

Collector Daniel Shogren and his wife Susan Meyer have always been fascinated by the 1930s and its art, possibly related to both of them having been interested in history since childhood. Of particular interest to the passionate collectors are American Scene and Regionalist artworks. 

Shogren states, "In my career, I have traveled the Midwest and worked in factories where I witnessed today's working men and women. I compare today, where we have full employment and a booming stock market, to the America of the 1920s and 1930s.  Are we seeing warning signals, such as climate change and income disparity, that portend a future depression? Susan and I are deeply moved by art from the 30s and how it reflects those times, which remain relevant in 2019. This exhibition is a dream come true for us. We are delighted to share these amazing works of art with the public."

Industry, Work, Society, and Travails in the Depression Era will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue with object texts written by collectors Susan Meyer and Daniel Shogren, Donald Myers (director and chief curator, Hillstrom Museum of Art), and Christian Peterson (independent scholar and former long-time photography curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Art).

The Hillstrom Museum of Art is located in the Jackson Campus Center of Gustavus Adolphus College, 800 West College Avenue, St. Peter, Minnesota.