Homilies for the 99% or the Resurrection and Resurgence of Horatio Alger

Creator

Aileen Bassis

Description

This work was made to accompany an exhibit curated by Aileen Bassis in 2016 at Westbeth Gallery in New York City about income inequality. "This group of work references 19th century author Horatio Alger. His enormously popular books stressed the notion that hard work and honesty will enable individuals to rise out of poverty and find financial security." - Aileen Bassis. "A homily is a moral lesson, often a platitude that favors broad brushstrokes of generalities over complex and subtle examination of issues. The aspect of homilies in this work is derived from the literature of Horatio Alger, a writer from the 19th century. He wrote enormously popular books for young adults that stressed simple moral virtues such as honesty and hard work as the means to climb from poverty to financial security. People were reading these during the Depression. These ideas are still floating around and used to blame people for their poverty rather than blame institutional forces. This work combines images and text from Horatio Alger novels with urban street imagery to make prints with mixed media." - Aileen Bassis.

Publisher

Aileen Bassis (self-published)

Subject

Social, cultural, political issues

Extent

8.5"x 5.5"

Style

String bindings

Material

Mixed media: hand stitching, risograph printing, paper

Technique

Risograph printing

Date

2016

Other Information

More information can be found here: http://www.aileenbassis.com/Risograph.html and here: http://aileenbassis.com/homilies-for-the-99.html

Recommended Citation

Bassis, Aileen, "Homilies for the 99% or the Resurrection and Resurgence of Horatio Alger" (2016). Rollins College Book Arts Collection. 24.
https://scholarship.rollins.edu/book_arts/24

Exhibit Location

This work was featured in the Olin Library as a part of the exhibition “Common Ground: Selected Works from The Rollins Book Arts Collection” from September 18, 2021 – December 31, 2021.