Artivism in the Digital Age

As I was exploring around on the internet I came across an art magazine first published in November 1934. “Art Front” was created by a group called the Artists Committee of Action and was made up artists such as Hugo Gellert, Stuart Davis, Zoltan Hecht and Lionel S. Reiss. This magazine was published under the Artists Union. What I think is interesting about this magazine is that it’s intent to be political. The magazine features commentary and interviews with people about political ans social issues during the Great Depression. Not only do they feature articles, they also feature work from other artists. I picked this cover to highlight on here, because this cover really captures what the magazine is about. This overall idea that this is a place for free expression, most of which is political, can be expressed within the pages of the magazine. I think this is a great example of how artists created a space in order to share and publish what they believed. I think that this is a way for artists to be activists, yet not in a so direct manner like protesting or campaigning.

I want to quickly mention the founding behind this magazine, because I think it is really interesting to think about. The Artists Committee of Action protested the destruction of Diego Rivera’s mural Man at the Crossroads, which was a a mural that displayed Vladimir Lenin and a Soviet Russian May Day parade. The mural was destroyed by Nelson Rockefeller in 1933, because there was controversy about displaying this in the Rockefeller Plaza. It should noted that Rivera’s communist party ideals contrasted greatly with the theme of the Rockefeller Plaza, even though the mural was originally approved by the Rockefeller Plaza.

I wanted to share this magazine as an example that using art as a means of political expression can be created it many different forms, like displayed here. Moving forward in my research on artivism, I want to keep in mind how artists create spaces to share and display their work and why this is important.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Front

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_at_the_Crossroads

To check out more of the beautiful scans of the original magazine, please visit, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/art-front-5779#how-to-use-this-collection