America, 1931-1940
American Scene Painting is an umbrella term for the mainstream realist
and antimodernist style of painting popular in the United States during the
Great Depression. A reaction against the modern European style, it was seen
as an attempt to define a uniquely American style of art. The American Scene
basically consists of two main schools, the rural
American Regionalism,
and the urban and politically-oriented
Social Realism.
A few artists escaped being closely associated with the Regionalist and
Social Realist camps, including
Edward Hopper and
Charles Burchfield.