Election Day
Date1936
Artist
Helen Farr Sloan
(American painter, 1911–2005)
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)
frame: 31 3/8 × 37 3/8 in. (79.7 × 94.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist, 1999
Object number1999-3
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPAINTING
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.
