Painting of two workers on a dockyard, pulling on ropes, with a ship in the background — Edmund Lewandowski, American, 1914–1998. The Waterfront, 1935. Oil on board. The Shogren-Meyer Collection. EL2026.5.2

Curator Talk: Work for America: Images of Labor and Industry During the Great Depression

Join us for a conversation about the notions of work and the moralizing work ethic that dominated American understandings of national identity, social standing, and self-esteem. During the Great Depression (1929–1941), when the stock market collapsed, multiple industries shut down, and unemployment rose to 25%, work was touted as the most important factor in restoring both the U.S. economy and national confidence in capitalism and democracy.

American artists played a major role in this restoration, producing images that largely reaffirmed the country’s work ethic and industrial labor. Some artists also depicted the general strikes, labor rallies, and class struggles that consumed the era.

Focusing on paintings and photographs in the exhibition “Built to Last: The Shogren-Meyer Collection of American Art,” this talk examines how a diverse group of American artists represented work, workers, and industrial capitalism at a pivotal historical moment.

Free tickets available February 27, 2026.

Erika Doss is a distinguished chair in the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her wide-ranging interests in American art are reflected in the breadth of her publications and public lectures. Doss speaks about the complexities of modern and contemporary American visual and material cultures, including the nature of representation and issues of history, memory, and identity—national, cultural, and self.

_{Edmund Lewandowski, American, 1914–1998. The Waterfront, 1935. Oil on board. The Shogren-Meyer Collection. EL2026.5.2}