Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s. The artistic focus was from artists who shunned city life, and rapidly developing technological advances, to create scenes of rural life. Regionalist style was at its height from 1930 to 1935, and is best-known through the so-called "Regionalist Triumvirate" of Grant Wood in Iowa, Thomas Hart Benton in Missouri, and John Steuart Curry in Kansas. During the Great Depressionof the 1930s, Regionalist art was widely appreciated for its reassuring images of the American heartland.
The movement is divided into two groups of artists with different approaches. The Social Realists were devoted to depicting the social troubles of the suffering urban lower class. The Regionalists painted more positive subjects, hoping to lead the nation out of the depression by providing hope for a better future. This group often painted midwestern rural scenes with themes of hard work and self-preservation.
