Relief+Blues

Date: ca. 1938
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1971/1971.447.34_1a.jpg?itok=qyxkPW5z width="348" height="276" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/relief-blues-9726"]] || Title: **Relief Blues**

Artist: **O. Louis Guglielmi** Born: Cairo, Egypt 1906 Died: Amagansett, New York 1956

Medium: tempera on fiberboard Dimensions: 24 x 30 in. (61.1 x 76.2 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Transfer from The Museum of Modern Art

Accession: 1971.447.34 ||  This painting shows a family on home relief during the Depression. O. Louis Guglielmi applied for relief during the early 1930s, before he managed to secure a meager wage through the Works Progress Administration. The unemployment that exploded after the crash of 1929 was demoralizing for many Americans, and here, Guglielmi emphasized the figures’ despondent, haunted expressions. A relief worker on the right fills out forms to apply for welfare, while the man of the house can only watch helplessly. He probably had little choice but to ask the government for help, and the painting hints at an even sadder future should his application be refused.
 * Exhibition Label: **


 * Suggested Questions: **
 * How would you describe the mood of feeling of this painting?
 * What did the artist do to convey this mood?
 * Who lives in this place and who is visiting? How can you tell?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">How does each person feel about what is happening?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The Great Depression
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Artist Biography <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">SAAM Collections Page
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