American Art Collaborative

America looks out at the world from the eyes of a child in this painting Robert Brackman made for the Public Works of Art Project. The artist's accustomed portrait subjects were rich white people or nude models who took careful poses in the artist's studio. This African American child afforded the artist, an immigrant from Russia, a very different view of the American scene. Brackman suggested the child's modest American home by placing her in a ladder-back chair at a table with a red plaid cloth. But the domestic interior is far less compelling than the bold child, who fixes the artist with her unflinching gaze. Her stuffed toy lies forgotten in her lap while she scrutinizes Brackman at his easel. She wiggles restlessly, not caring that her dress has hiked up to reveal the tops of her stockings. The ambitious young immigrant artist identified this little girl with far more than her home in New York. He allied her independent spirit with the future of the whole country, titling his portrait of her Somewhere in America.

1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label
In Robert Brackman's painting the red-checkered cloth and fruit plate reflect popular ideas of home and heartland in the 1930s, but the girl's wary expression makes her seem old beyond her years. During the Great Depression, scenes like this were meant to reflect the nation's strong spirit and to remind Americans of their common bonds rather than their differences. This attitude drove New Deal art projects, which aimed to appeal to broad audiences and affirm shared values. But Brackman's title suggests that he wanted his viewers to think about a class of Americans who were largely excluded from the optimistic imagery that prevailed