Essay on 1920 s and New York

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Pages: 10
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1920 - 1929
FACTS about this decade.
 106,521,537 people in the United States
 2,132,000 unemployed, Unemployment 5.2%
 Life expectancy: Male 53.6, Female 54.6
 343.000 in military (down from 1,172,601 in 1919)
 Average annual earnings $1236; Teacher's salary $970
 Dow Jones High 100 Low 67
 Illiteracy rate reached a new low of 6% of the population.
 Gangland crime included murder, swindles, racketeering
 It took 13 days to reach California from New York There were 387,000 miles of paved road.
ARCHITECTURE
Early modernism in art, design, and architecture, which began at the turn of the century, continued through to 1940 and the war. In cities, Skyscrapers (first in 1870s) were erected and hundreds of architects competed for the work. The first successful design was the Woolworth Building in New York. In Chicago, the Wrigley building was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White while the Chicago Tribune Tower was designed by Howells and Hood. The Art Deco design was exemplified by the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings (depression projects - the Empire State Building completed early 1931.) Frank Lloyd Wright was prolific during this period, designing homes in California and in Japan. The term Art Deco (1925-1950) is derived from the International Art Exposition in Paris in 1925. In the 20s and 30s art of that style was referred to as modern. Designers included Karl (Kem) Weber and Eliel Saarinen.
Art movements included the modernist movement [George Luks, Charles W. Hawthorne], abstract expressionism [Willem de Kooning], surrealism, and dadaism [Georgia O'Keeffe, Morgan Russell, Man Ray], realism [ Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Leon Kroll] and landscape [Aldro Thompson Hibbard, N.C. Wyeth]. Horace Pippin is considered one of America's foremost primitive or naive painters. The best museums featured shows by these important artists. BOOKS & LITERATURE
Following WWI (the war to end all wars), talented young authors, some expatriates in France, wrote about their feelings of disillusionment and alienation. A sense of rebellion developed and the victorian idea of decency was considered hypocritical. Writers began to write frankly about sexuality. Three important groups during this period were: The Algonquin Round Table, also called THE ROUND TABLE, informal group of American literary men and women who met daily for lunch on weekdays at a large round table in the Algonquin Hotel in New York City during the 1920s and '30s. Many of the best-known writers, journalists, and artists in New York City were in this group. Among them were Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott (author of the quote "All the things I really like are immoral, illegal, or fattening", Heywood Broun, Robert Benchley,Robert Sherwood, George S. Kaufman, Franklin P. Adams, Marc Connelly, Harold Ross, Harpo Marx, and Russell Crouse. Razors pain you; Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful; You might as well live. RESUME by Dorothy Parker
Harlem Renaissance is considered the first important movement of black artists and writers in the US. Centered in Harlem, NY, and other urban areas during the 1920s, black writers published more than ever before. Influential and lasting black authors, artists, and musicians received their first serious critical appraisal. This group included Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Alain Locke , who was considered the chief interpreter for the Harlem movement. Southern gentle lady,
Do not swoon.
They've just hung a black man
In the dark of the moon.
They've hung a black man
To the roadside tree
In the dark of the moon
For the world to see
How Dixie protects
Its white womanhood

Southern gentle lady,
Be good!
Be good!
Silhouette by Langston Hughes
The Lost Generation, the
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