Is there a name for this style of painting on this week's New Yorker?

June 3, 2021 1:56 PM

This week's New Yorker cover is a painting by Kenton Nelson, "Works in Progress," inspired by the WPA mural style of the New Deal. The writeup does not say specifically what one calls that style. Does anyone have a name for it?
posted by nothing.especially.clever to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Regionalism or American Scene.
posted by PussKillian at 2:01 PM on June 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Or Social Realism. Possibly more suggestions here.
posted by jabes at 2:06 PM on June 3, 2021 [4 favorites]

Mexican muralism.
posted by Omon Ra at 2:18 PM on June 3, 2021

Yes, this is the style pioneered by Diego Rivera and his contemporaries. Look at the fifth close-up here.
posted by praemunire at 2:31 PM on June 3, 2021

It reminds me a lot of WPA artist Seymour Fogel's The Wealth of the Nation. He was a muralist and at one time worked with Diego Rivera.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:32 PM on June 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

"Nelson traces his interest in painting back to his great uncle, Roberto Montenegro, renowned Mexican muralist and Modernist. The style of Nelson’s paintings have their origins in American Scene painting, Regionalism, and the work of the WPA artists of the 1930′s." - KentonNelson.com bio section
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:36 PM on June 3, 2021

Aha! If you like the Fogel comparison, "All of Fogel’s New Deal murals were created in the socially conscious style of Rivera and American Depression-era abstracted realism."
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:38 PM on June 3, 2021

Looks like Thomas Hart Benton.
posted by sulaine at 8:10 PM on June 3, 2021