Art & Social Issues in American Culture
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Urban Poverty

Employment Agency

by Moses Soyer

Soyer’s painting conveys the hopelessness experienced by many of the nation’s poor during the years of the Great Depression. 

His scene shows a middle-aged man hesitantly stepping into an employment agency, a newspaper (presumably the want ads) stuffed into his coat pocket.  The loose threads on the bottom of his coat and the bags under his eyes emphasize the futility of his search. 

(Pohl 20)

Learn more about this artist:

Artist Biography

Lesson Plans

Moses Soyer, Employment Agency

Moses Soyer, Employment Agency, 1940.  Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in. 

Museum Purchase, Derby Fund, from the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art 1930-1970

Within Urban Poverty...
Ida Abelman Francis Chapin Phillip Evergood George Gilbert Irwin Hoffman Morris Huberland Elizabeth Olds Moses Soyer Raphael Soyer

Rural Poverty Urban Poverty Anti-Poverty Efforts Fall Short Labor Disputes
Ida Abelman
Thomas Hart Benton
Lucienne Bloch
Harry Brodsky
Paul Cadmus
Francis Chapin
Jack Delano
Phillip Evergood
George Gilbert
Hugo Gellert
Joseph Hirsch
Irwan Hoffman
Morris Huberland
Meritt Mauzey
Elizabeth Olds
Walter Quirt
Moses Soyer
Raphael Soyer
Lynd Ward


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