American scene painting (also referred “American regionalism” or “social realism” - the works which stress local and small-town themes) is a naturalist style of paintings and art of the 1920s through 1940s in the United States.

A term used to describe scenes of typical American life painted c.1920-c.1942. Much of this work is also included within Regionalism and Social Realism, and played a big role in New Deal art.

Exploring Art Style

Historically Regionalism an American term refers to the work of a number of rural artists, mostly from the Midwest, who came to prominence in the 1930s.

It was first applied to the paintings of Charles Burchfield (American, 1893-1967) in the mid-1920s. Born in the aftermath of World War I, American Scene painting developed partly as an outgrowth of the Ashcan school, and partly as a reaction to French modernism.

This art movement came from interest in celebrating the democratic ideals of America by promoting subject-matter accessible to the masses. A related trend was the growth of interest in creating prints for mass distribution.

After World War I many United States artists rejected the modern trends stemming from the Armory Show. Instead they chose to adopt academic realism in depicting urban and rural scenes. Much of the American scene painting conveys a nationalism and romanticism of everyday American life.

The three best-known regionalists were John Steuart Curry, Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, the painter of the best-known and one of the greatest works of American art, American Gothic.

Art Works by American Regionalism Artists

• Allan Rohan Crite (American, 1910-), Beneath the Cross of St. Augustine, 1936, oil on canvas, 20 1/8 x 36 inches, Howard University, Washington, DC. See African American art .
• Allan Rohan Crite, Sunlight and Shadow, 1941, oil on wood, 64.20 x 99.10 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
• Charles Burchfield (American, 1893-1967), Rainy Night, 1929-30, watercolor over pencil on paper, 30 x 42 inches (76.2 x 106.7 cm), San Diego Museum of Art, CA. The subject is a street scene in Buffalo, NY.
• Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967), Early Sunday Morning, 1930, oil on canvas, 35 3/16 x 60 1/4 inches (89.4 x 153 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. See Ashcan school.
• Edward Hopper, People in the Sun, 1960, oil on canvas, 40 3/8 x 40 5/8 inches (102.6 x 103.5 cm), National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.
• Edward Hopper, Seven A.M., 1949, oil on canvas, 30 3/16 x 40 1/8 inches, (76.7 x 101.9 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.
• Edward Laning (American, 1906-1981), Third Avenue El at Fourteenth Street, 1931, tempera on gessoed Masonite, 20 x 30 inches, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, U of Minnesota.
• Grant Wood (American, 1892-1942), The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Banch, Iowa, 1931, oil on composition board, 29 5/8 x 39 3/4 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
• Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917-2000), The Migration of the Negro: The Migrants Cast Their Ballots, 1940-41, silkscreen print, Newark Museum. See African American art.
• Martin Lewis (American, 1881-1962), Boss of the Block, c. 1939, aquatint and etching, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
• Reginald Marsh (American, 1898-1954), Negroes on Rockaway Beach, 1934, egg tempera on composition board, 30 x 40 inches, (76.2 x 101.6 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. See Fourteenth Street school and New Deal art.
• Reginald Marsh, Twenty Cent Movie, 1936, egg tempera on board, 30 x 40 inches (76.2 x 101.6 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.
• Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975), The Lord Is My Shepherd, 1926, tempera on canvas, 33 1/4 x 27 3/8, inches (84.5 x 69.5 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.
• Thomas Hart Benton, Poker Night (from "A Streetcar Named Desire"), 1948, tempera and oil on panel, 36 x 48 inches, (91.4 x 121.9 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

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