
In 1934, a young woman who painted under the name Barbara Stevenson finished an oil painting entitled Apple Vendor.  Looking at it quickly, the painting, which depicts a sad, old man on a street corner selling apples for 5¢ a piece, appears very depressing.  This painting was commissioned through a program created under the New Deal as a way to employ artists and to use art as a way to improve the morale of the citizens during the Great Depression.  I think that Barbara Stevenson was trying to create a picture for people to see through the sadness and depression of the time.  She seemed to sense hope in a very negative time.  But what caused this bad time and why was she seeing things from a different angle?

On August 11, 1928, in his speech to accept the nomination of the Republican party, Herbert Hoover stated: “We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.  The poorhouse is vanishing from among us.  We have not yet reached the goal but given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.  That is the primary purpose of the economic policies we advocate” (Hoover 337).  A little more than one year later, on October 29, 1929, then President Hoover probably realized that he could not have been more wrong.  On “Black Tuesday,” the stock market closed with a two-day decline of about 25% and marked the beginning of a financial crisis that became known as the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was the result of a domino effect of bad financial decisions, poor regulations and a lack of sound government programs.  Black Tuesday was only the beginning.  The stock market crash extended into the banking system and the general economy.  People were afraid that the banks could not give them back their money, so hundreds of thousands of customers created a “run” on the banks by demanding their money back.  There was no way for the banks to provide the funds and thousands went out of business.  This damaged the general economy, which caused many companies to close their doors completely or lay off many of their employees.  At the worst point of the Great Depression, between 13 and 15 million people, or over 20% of the population, was unemployed.  The people who lost their jobs were desperate to find any way to earn money.  The loss of income was damaging families and led to an increase in suicides.  It was a horrible time in the United States.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became President in 1933, he pushed through a grand plan called the New Deal, which created many new important government programs and investments that put millions of Americans to work and tried to protect them against the initial causes of the Great Depression.  One of these programs was the Public Works of Art Project.  This program hired 3,749 artists who created 15,663 pieces of art at an average price of $79.59 a piece.  The artists simply were told that the pieces needed to portray the “American scene” at the time.  Barbara Stevenson selected a scene that was played out several thousand times every day in large cities like New York during this time.

In 1930, when all companies were hurting, the International Apple Growers Association came up with a plan to deal not only with an excess supply of apples, but to try to help those who were unemployed.  They agreed to sell a crate of apples on credit to unemployed citizens at a price below market.  By selling the apples on the street, people were able to make a small profit, maintain their dignity and help keep an industry working.  This idea did not last very long, but, at its peak, the program was believed to have “hired” between 4,000 and 5,000 in New York alone.

I believe that Barbara Stevenson saw both the struggle and the opportunity in the Apple Vendor.   The struggle is clear since it shows an old man obviously down on his luck and not happy to be in his situation.  You can see this by the dropping of his head, the hat shading his eyes as if he is embarrassed and the drooping shoulders as if he might be giving up.  In addition, he seems to be protecting his apples with very large hands; possibly the hands of a laborer who used to do other, more meaningful work.  His apples are in perfect pyramids, so it’s possible he has not sold any yet that day.

The man was given an opportunity through the generosity of a company willing to provide products for him to sell without paying up front and at a price below the normal price.  He has been given a chance, and it’s in his hands to get his life back in order.  Barbara Stevenson depicts this by painting him with larger hands not only because he used to possibly be a laborer, but because he has a lot to carry if he wants to get everything back he lost.  The mother and child in the background are looking at the old man as if they know him.  It’s possible the mother and child were once his family, but because of hardship had to leave them behind in hopes of creating a new and successful life.  They may also suggest that life will go on; a mother holding her child’s hand to protect the child who represents the future.

Another area of focus is the old man’s surroundings.  The scene behind him shows factories that may have been impacted by the Great Depression, but remain standing and provide promise to open again and hire people like the old man.  The sky being golden is a sign of hope; like the heavens are shining down on him.  But nothing about this situation is perfect.  The sidewalk resembles that by not being perfectly flat and straight.

Barbara Stevenson was given an opportunity to paint a wonderful painting in a time of stress and struggle.  Since she was only a teenager when she painted the Apple Vendor, she must have been grateful for the funding from the Works of Art Project and potentially tried to select a subject to illustrate that feeling.  It was not an easy time for anyone, since rich and poor all suffered significantly during the Great Depression, but even in times of struggle, one should never lose hope.  As FDR said in his first inaugural address in 1933, “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” (Roosevelt).
