Election Night, Times Square, Donald Freeman

Artwork Overview

Donald Freeman, Election Night, Times Square
Donald Freeman, Election Night, Times Square
Donald Freeman
Election Night, Times Square
1934
Donald Freeman
1908–1978
Election Night, Times Square, 1934
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: lithograph
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 376 x 578 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 273 x 354 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 13/16 x 22 3/4 in
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 10 3/4 x 13 15/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 25 in
Credit line: Gift of the WPA Arts Project
Accession number: 0000.0247
Not on display
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Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 140 Feb-2008, revised Sep-2010, Lara Kuykendall I’m David Cateforis with another art minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. In Election Night, Times Square, a lithograph by Donald Freeman, the electric light of New York City bathes an exuberant crowd celebrating the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932 to become the thirty-second President of the United States. Freeman depicts people of all ages and classes, from a street urchin banging on a large pan in the foreground to several well-dressed women struggling to navigate the throng. At the upper right a man with a movie-camera records the event, possibly for a newsreel. The people’s faces and poses convey unbridled optimism, enhanced by Freeman’s lively style, which gives the impression of a sketch made rapidly on site. The composition is so full of buildings and people that it threatens to spill out of the foreground, but the spectacle is held tight by a banner reading “Vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt.” This image reflects the spirit of Americans hungry for change at the height of the Great Depression and hopeful that the new administration would lead them through the crisis and on to better days. With thanks to Lara Kuykendall for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.