Europe

Rockwell Kent, Printed by George C. Miller

1946

Although publishers and readers favored optimistic, light-hearted depictions of life, illustrators occasionally addressed difficult social issues. The political opinions of Kent—a dedicated advocate for social justice—often come through in his work.  Europe, completed shortly after World War II, features a melancholy personification of the continent that reflects grimly upon the task of reconstruction.

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This image is created with black ink on paper. It represents a two story house with a porch to the left, built with brick on the bottom story and board on the top. The windows are in various states of disorder and on the top story some of the wood siding has fallen away, revealing the lathe and plaster of the interior walls. There are two windows in the top story and two windows in the bottom story. In front of the bottom right window there is a small outbuilding, also made of brick. There is a figure to the left of the outbuilding and another seated to the right next to a chair. Behind her stands a tree, and a second house stands behind the tree, more obscured than the first. A tree also rises from behind the upper left of the house at the left of the image.
Canal, Lucille Douglass, charcoal and pastel on machine-made laid paper
Face Constellation, Burt Hasen, lithograph on Arches paper
Black and white press print of a National Guardsman (left) standing in front of a multiple story high school building while two white girls in dresses look on from behind. Includes caption "On Guard, Little Rock, Arkansas: A National Guardsman continues his vigilance at the Central High School in Little Rock to bar entrance to Negroes. It was the second day in a row guardsman were stationed around the school on orders of Gov. Orval Faubus. The Justice Department has ordered a full probe in Little Rock for the Federal Judge whose integration order has twice been ignored."