John Horton, a resident of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, has collected American art for twenty years.  He began his collection with 19th-century landscape paintings.  In the early 1980s, with the help of New York gallery owner, Samuel L. Rosenfield, he began to acquire American paintings from 1930s and 1940s. Horton’s criteria for his acquisitions are works that show “vigorous” expression with animated compositions and forceful color contrasts and works that have themes concerned with the human condition, especially compassion for the oppressed, the unfortunate, and the unhappy.  Particular favorites for him were paintings by the American Regionalists and Social Realists of the 1930s and 1940s. The American Regionalists found their subject matter in the celebration of everyday life of rural America.  Living and working in the country’s heartland, they passionately rejected the artistic domination of New York and other urban centers, and in their art glorified the life of the farmer and the small town. In contrast, the Social Realists were urban artists and by far the more political of the two groups.  The Social Realists focused on the indignities and injustices that were regularly faced by laborers and the urban poor.  They were not afraid to take a frank look at the social ills of society and felt compelled to use their art for political expression. The Lore Degenstein Gallery will show several paintings from these two movements as well as various works by artists that illustrated other paths taken by artists during the period.  One of the paintings, Apple Seller by Julius Bloch, documents a common sight during the Great Depression of the 1930s:  the destitute, unemployed people who tried to earn money selling such items as pencils and fruit on city streets. We extend our appreciation to the Michener Museum of Art in Doylestown, PA, and to John Horton for the opportunity to display the paintings in this exhibition.   Valerie Livingston     Apple Seller. Julius Bloch. Oil on canvas. 15 x 12" Collection of John Horton. Courtesy of the Michener Museum of Art, Doylestown, PA