Intermissions and the Great Depression

"Intermission", by Earl Mueller

People usually depict the Great Depression as a time period filled with heavy financial struggle and unemployment. We often don’t hear the story behind the wealthy upper class. High-class parties frequently echoed through lavish residence halls, while the common working man's fortunes slowly crumbled away. Unemployment rates skyrocketed during the Great Depression, as the lower and middle class citizens suffered economic hardships. However, the upper class barely felt any effects. Tension between social classes at this time reached a new height, which inspired some artists to criticize these issues through  illustrating caricatures and other satirical work. One artist, Earl Mueller, produced an interesting piece titled "Intermission" about two years after the Great Depression ended. The North Carolina Museum of Art features it in its permanent collection. By focusing on a distinct dream-like atmosphere and key caricature characteristics, like facial expressions and character placement, Mueller creates a satirical piece that successfully mocks the upper class during the Great Depression. "Intermission" highlights the upper class’s isolation, vanity, and disregard for their situation.

Children waiting at a soup kitchen during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression affected everyone, but "Intermission" emphasizes how little the upper class felt these  effects. During the 1920’s, the stock market saw widespread success, so many people heavily borrowed money for investing ("Feature 1930s High Society"). Because of this, the infamous stock market crash of 1929 depleted billions of dollars and ruined thousands of investors. Although the upper class felt some shock waves, the working and lower classes took the most damage ("Class in the 1930's"). These events ushered in a long period of financial struggle and inequality, known as the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt erected The New Deal program in response to this, which received most of its funding from taxes paid by the wealthy ("Class in the 1930's"). The large economic gap already had the wealthy showing contempt towards the lower classes. Having to pay income taxes as well (for a cause they did not feel like was their responsibility) only made the wealthy upper class resent the lower classes even more ("Class in the 1930's"). Additionally, the rich upper class enjoyed showing off their extravagant lifestyles during the Great Depression, which only further weakened relations between classes. For example, one popular man named William Randolph Hearst even increased his spending during this time period by hosting sophisticated parties, Masquerades for children, and commissioned new rooms in his home just to be able to fit all the guests (Feature 1930s High Society). Many others spent their days just like Hearst did,  which made the upper class a big target for critics and artists. Earl Mueller presents us with his interpretation, "Intermission", of the upper class’s overindulgence, role during this time period, and isolation from the rest of society.

At first glance, "Intermission" might seem nostalgic or lonely, or it might address something about social gatherings. With further examination, one can notice distinct features, like the faces on the two ladies in the middle of the room, the general lack of detail, and the shading of the piece. The latter two help emphasize the few, essential details even more. Characteristics like this give "Intermission" a caricature-like feeling. Mueller produced this piece only about two years after the Great Depression ended, so it’s very possible that this piece drew heavy influence from the Great Depression. The characters in "Intermission" all seem to belong to the wealthy class, and seem to be on a break during a social gathering. Though, the individuals lack interaction with each other, as each individual or pair does does their own thing. The older two ladies in the middle of the room are shaded lighter, and stand out to the viewer the most (they also seem to be the most important part of the piece). Interestingly enough, even though this scene takes place during a break at a social gathering, everyone surprisingly seems isolated – mainly the two ladies in the middle, who appeared to be the liveliest at first glance. With this character placement, Mueller mimics how the upper class isolated themselves from everyone, and even disregarded others and their suffering (“The Great Depression”). The young man standing by himself on the right also exemplifies this. He isolates himself from the others, but unlike the them, this young man seems satisfied with doing nothing. Coupled with his smug smile, he further develops the isolation theme, but with an air of pretentiousness as well. Mueller strengthens "Intermission"'s isolated feeling with various characters and careful attention to detail. "Intermission" plays a clever mimicking game with the wealthy upper class.

A modern day example of caricature.

Mueller’s "Intermission", meant primarily for mocking the upper class during the Great Depression, stylistically resembles caricatures . As Spanish caricature artist Vasquez De Sola remarks, “Caricature is the most gentle way of saying God Damn.” (Sarıgül). Caricatures usually exaggerate a drawing's elements for a  comical or satirical effect. "Intermission" definitely does this by exaggerating the peoples' characteristics, like the womens' faces in the middle of the room, the eyebrows of the man smoking, and the standing young man's forehead and hair. I would even say that the scene itself is exaggerated, like how everyone involves themselves with an activity shown in the clearest way possible for the viewer, which showcases how preoccupied the characters (and, consequently, the upper class) can get with their own interests. Mueller uses these exaggerations to poke fun at the upper class. The limited characteristics and interactions that the characters have refer back to the isolation theme, where the wealthy isolated themselves from everyone else during the Great Depression. By exaggerating features in "Intermission", Mueller reinforces his main, satirical approach.

Upon inspection, the viewer quickly notices the pair of caricature-like older women in the middle of the piece. From their important position in the picture, they seem to be the piece's main focus point. Their extremely light shading emphasizes their simplistic tone more. For these two women, Mueller exaggerates their facial expressions. They seem very lively, and to an extent, silly. They also possess a sense of gaudiness when coupled with their expensive clothing. Staying true to the spirit of caricatures, Mueller utilizes the womens' exaggerated facial expressions to make a remark about the upper class's unnecessary extravagance. Also, something interesting to note is how this vanity theme relates with the isolation theme. The two ladies stand in the most noticeable area of the room, but no one seems to acknowledge them. They don’t seem to mind this either, which is unusual because in that case, it seems like their extravagance would be for nothing more than fitting in. Mueller pokes fun at the upper class’s vanity here, and makes a statement about how their wealth essentially means nothing. They spend their money on themselves by hosting things like exclusive parties instead of contributing to the community to help deal with the effects of the Great Depression. They seem to only flaunt their wealth for the sake of doing so.

By using careful character placement and shading, Mueller successfully unites seemingly different themes, like vanity and isolation, with common characteristics. This piece’s shading varies from light to dark, but effectively separates this scene from real life. It introduces a symbolic and abstract tone for the viewer. Mueller uses this abstract atmosphere to emphasize "Intermission"'s satirical tone by referring the viewer to the piece’s sarcasm (or caricature-like style). Resulting from these uniting themes and atmosphere, the upper class's disregard theme emerges. Basically, the ladies standing in the middle of the room can relate with the vanity and isolation themes, but they also contribute like puzzle pieces to the disregard theme. Everyone in the room participate in some activity, and appear isolated from each other. Judging by this piece’s title, and the upper class atmosphere that the vanity theme brings, the viewer may assume that this scene takes place during a break (or, during an intermission) at a social gathering. Everyone seems preoccupied with something and performs very little interaction with each other, even though the scene takes place at a high-class social event. This creates a sense of disregard for others. Mueller guides the viewer to finding and recognizing this sense of disregard by mixing the isolation and vanity themes. During the Great Depression, the top one percent of wealthiest Americans owned almost one-third of all assets (“Ushistory.org (The Great Depression)"). This “one percent” upper class also conserved money that would have been pumped back into the economy if it spread into the lower classes (“Ushistory.org (“The Great Depression”)). The upper class possessed a disregard for the lower class's well-being during the Great Depression, and Mueller criticizes this attitude with "Intermission" through his themes and satirical tone.

A scene from a line, taken during the Great Depression period

As a period of great financial struggle, people often remember the Great Depression for its crippling impacts on the working class and its unfortunate impact on the country’s unemployment. Mueller chooses a different viewpoint. He examines the upper class’s position during the Great Depression, and criticizes them for their self-isolation and pretentious attitude. Through a careful use of themes, Mueller successfully delivers his criticism with "Intermission" by using a key, caricature-like style.






Works Cited

"Feature 1930s High Society." PBS. PBS. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/1930s-high-society/>.

"Class in the 1930's." Class in the 1930's. Urban and Urbane. Web. 15 Apr. 2015. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/class.html>.

Sarıgül, Baran. "The Significance of Caricature in Visual Communication." IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, 1 Jan. 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2015. <http://www.as8.it/edu/writing/gd494_sarigul.pdf>.

"The Great Depression." The Great Depression. Web. 15 Apr. 2015. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief1.htm>

"The Great Depression." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/48.asp>.