Great art of the Great Depression

America in the 1930s was hardly as easy as apple pie. The nearly 100 photos and paintings in "Industry, Work, Society, and Travails in the Depression Era" at Gustavus Adolphus College artfully shine a light on this period of economic hardship. Photographer Walker Evans captures an auto graveyard full of 1930s cars. Margaret Bourke-White casts a cynical light on race relations with a striking photo of African-Americans lining up for food in front of a billboard that shows a smiling white family while trumpeting "There's no way like the American way." Elsewhere in the exhibit, drawn from the collection of Minnesota art lovers Daniel Shogren and Susan Meyer, B.J.O. Nordfeldt's painting "Skating, Anoka" brings a smile with its colorful figures enjoying a sunny winter day on the ice. (1-4 Mon.-Tue., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Thu. Ends Nov. 10. Hillstrom Museum of Art, 800 W. College Av., St. Peter, Minn. Free. 1-507-933-8000 or gustavus.edu)

Alicia Eler