Flop House c. 1937

Edward Millman created this lithograph called "Flop House," but we're unsure exactly when. The work depicts two men down on their luck. The man in the background sits hunched over with his head in his hands, perhaps in despair, while the other man sleeps on what looks like an old mattress, his shoes cast to one side. This work most likely comes out of the social realism of the 1930s, a time of economic depression in the United States. Artists at this time saw it as their public role to portray the lives of the working class and to comment on social structures. Millman critiques the institutions that have allowed such desperate poverty to take hold. He emphasizes the dignity of these two figures. As art historians, we can look at the prints and photographs produced by the Farm Security Administration during this same period to better understand the context of the image and the social conditions that shaped its production. The meaning of art is contingent on this context.