Social Realism

A social realist photograph of a Mexican migrant with her children (c. 1930)

Social Realism is an artistic movementc which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through 'unvarnished' pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic. The movement originated because of the Great Depression - 'rich people liked to go out and take pictures of the noble poor people working away in their fields, starving in their houses...they did not think that possibly the joke might be on them'
The movement is a style of painting in which the scenes depicted typically convey a message of social or political protest edged with satir (this is not to be confused with Socialist Realism, the official USSR art form that was institutionalized by Joseph Stalin in 1934 and later allied Communist parties worldwide).
The Mexican painter Frida Khalo is associated with this movement; as are Edward Hopper, Jack Levine, Doris Lee and Diego Riviera.
The movement encompasses photography, photo-realist painting, murals, and portraiture.
Many artists who subscribed to Social Realism were painters with socialist (but not necessarily Marxist) political views. It achieved some popularity in the Eastern Bloc, but is often confused with Socialist Realism.