Election Day
Date1936
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions23 1/4 × 29 1/4 in. (59.1 × 74.3 cm)
frame: 31 3/8 × 37 3/8 in. (79.7 × 94.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist, 1999
Object number1999-3
Label TextThis painting records the Williamsburg Bridge on election night in 1936, when Franklin D. Roosevelt dominated the polls, beating out Alf Landon with ease. (Roosevelt garnered 98.49% of the electoral votes.) In 1936 most of the nation was still suffering through the Great Depression as Roosevelt continued to push through his popular New Deal reforms. The Depression-era context of this painting is clear from the figures gathered around a fire in a trash barrel and the signs advertising junk shops and second-hand goods.
